STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

MARCH 2005

March 31, 2005 on 12:59 am | In On The Road |

March 8, 2005 (Tuesday):
This month has been SLOW so far. On the 1st, I left Greenwood, LA at 8:00 AM. I drove to Meridian, MS. I took a lunch break, walked the ‘doggies’, then left at 2:15 PM. From there, I drove to Fayetteville, GA where I stopped for the night. I arrived at 7:30 PM, and spent the night at the Customer. I drove 626 miles.
After unloading on the 2nd, The Planner gave me a load that originated in Fairburn, GA and delivered in Breinigsville, PA (13 miles empty and 781 miles loaded). The load, however, was a ‘live load’ and did not pick-up until 12:30 PM. I arrived at the Shipper at noon. I was given a loading door immediately, but then it took 5.5 hours to load the load. I left there at 6:00 PM. I drove to Carnesville, GA where I stopped for the night. I drove 111 miles.
On the 3rd, I left Carnesville at 11:30 AM. I drove to our Terminal in Greer, SC where I fueled and took a short break to walk the ‘doggies’. I left Greer at 1:45 PM. I drove to Troutville, VA. Another short break here, then I drove to Carlisle, PA where I stopped for the night. I drove 616 miles.
The 4th was arduous. I left Carlisle at 9:30 AM and drove to the Consignee in Breinigsville. This was simply a ‘drop & hook’, so it went quickly. The Planner ’stacked’ 2 loads on me. The first picked up about 500 feet from the Consignee. It went from Breinigsville, PA to our Terminal in Jonestown, PA (500 feet empty and 54 miles loaded). The second load picked up at our Jonestown Terminal and delivered in Morehead, KY (137 feet empty and 497 miles loaded). The first was a live load. I took the empty trailer that the Consignee gave me next door to the Shipper. The guard at the gate assigned me a loading door. When I opened the door on the trailer, I saw that it was a ‘garment’ trailer. A garment trailer looks the same as a regular trailer on the outside, but on the inside it has ropes suspended from the ceiling from which clothing is hung. These are ’special purpose’ trailers dedicated to specific Customers and are supposed to be identified with a letter “G” or “H” preceding the trailer ID number. This one, of course, was not. I had to take it back to the other Customer and swap it out with a ‘real’ trailer. I then went back and put the new trailer into my assigned dock. On a brighter note, the ‘doggies’ got double treats. The original gate guard gave each of them a ‘treat’ as I entered. When I re-entered, there was a different guard and she gave each of them another treat. Needless to say, they were elated. (Happy Tummy) Anyway, after loading, I left at 4:45 PM. I drove to Jonestown. There, I dropped this load and picked up the load to Morehead. I left there at 7:15 PM and drove to Greencastle, PA where I stopped for the night. I only drove 226 miles.
On the 5th, I departed Greencastle at 11:30 AM. I drove straight through to Grayson, KY. This is the closest “real” truckstop to the Consignee in Morehead. I’ll deliver it tomorrow AM. I traveled 380 miles.
On Sunday, the 6th, I left Grayson at 9:30 AM and drove the 40 miles to Morehead. I was under the impression that it was a ‘live unload’. It was not. The only one there was the Security Guard. I dropped the load, but there were no empty trailers available. Now, it’s Sunday morning, i’m in the middle of NOWHERE and I have no empty. I waited, and waited, and waited and waited, and waited, and waited some more. At 5:00 PM, I drove into town. I ate dinner at a Ponderosa Steak House. I had the 1 pound Sirloin (they were out of the 12 oz and 8 oz). I’ll call the whole meal mediocre simply because the server was pleasant, and they had a decent Baked Potato Soup (not as good as mine, but I ‘doctored’ it up with some cheese and diced bacon). After that, I went back to the Customer to WAIT. The guard told me that the 1st shift came in at 10:30 PM and that there would be some Swift empties coming out sometime after that. Luckily, there was a good place to park just off their property. There was a vast lawn area for the doggies to ‘explore’ off-leash. They didn’t mind the wait. I checked with the Guard at midnight. No empties yet. I went to bed. I drove 40 whole miles. TODAY SUCKED
I awoke at 5:30 AM on the 7th with a message on my QualComm telling me to go back to the Customer and wait for an empty. DUH!! I finally found an empty at about 6:00 AM. I messaged my DM to let her know that I had an empty and gave her the number so that she could assign it to my truck. I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited until 12:30 PM. The Planner FINALLY gave me a load that picked up in Chillicothe, OH and delivered in Fayetteville, AR (126 miles empty and 764 miles loaded). I left Morehead at 1:00 PM (27 hours after I arrived). I arrived in Chillicothe at 4:30 PM. I swapped trailers, did the ubiquitous paperwork, and departed at 6:30 PM. I drove to Richmond, IN. I arrived there at 9:00 PM and fueled. After a short break to walk the ‘doggies’, I left at 9:30 PM. I drove to Brazil, IN where I stopped for the night. I drove 387 miles.
On Tuesday, the 8th, I left Brazil at 10:00 AM. I stopped in East St. Louis, IL mainly because of the Speed Limit change between Illinois and Missouri. It’s easier to do my Logging. I left at 2:00 PM and drove to Joplin, MO. I took a 15 minute break then drove to Fayetteville, AR where I stopped for the night. I arrived at 8:00 PM and slept at the Customer. I drove 533 miles.
March 9, 2005 (Wednesday):
I awoke at 5:30 AM. After walking the ‘doggies’, I checked in with Recieving at 6:00 AM. After being unloaded the Planner gave me a load that picked up in Muskogee, OK and delivered in Breinigsville, PA (again) (91 miles empty and 1249 miles loaded). I left Fayetteville at 7:45 AM and drove to Muskogee. I arrived at 9:15 AM. It was a ‘live load’. After loading and Scaling the load, I left at 11:45 AM. I drove to Chauteau, OK where I fueled and took a short break. I left there at 12:45 PM and arrived in Sullivan MO at 5:45 PM. I stopped here for the night. I spent $7.50 for Tolls on the Oklahoma Turnpike. I drove a total of 401 miles for the day.
March 10, 2005 (Thursday):
I left Sullivan about 11:30 AM and drove to East Saint Louis, IL. I stopped here for 15 minutes. My truck is running like CRAP. I think I blew a fuel Injector. I left at 1:00 PM and drove to Brazil, IN. I took another 15 minute ‘doggie’ walk break and left at 4:45 PM. I drove to Richmond, IN and stopped for fuel and a snack. I left there at 7:45 PM and drove to our Terminal in Columbus, OH. I stopped here for the night. I’m going to have to put my ‘baby’ in the shop in the AM (ref: Maintenance Malaise on this BLOG). The Planners will either have to T-Call or re-schedule the delivery on this load. I drove 469 miles.
March 17, 2005 (Thursday):
After I finally got my truck out of the shop on Saturday afternoon the 12th, I contacted the Planners and let them know that I was ready to roll. After a while, I was informed that there was no freight available. It took a while because, although I was at our Terminal in Columbus, OH, all the loads from that Region are Planned out of our Edwardsville (Kansas City), KS Terminal. I then went to the Truckstop to wait where I had Internet access.
On Sunday, the 13th, about noon, I recieved a message that they were aware of my status and were working on finding a load for me. At 7:00 PM, I gave up on a getting a load, and drove back to the Terminal and hooked to an empty trailer before they were all taken by other drivers in my same situation.. I figured that if there were loads waiting in the Terminal, they would have already Planned me on one, so that whatever load I get (when and if I ever get one) I’ll need an empty trailer.
On Monday, the 14th, about 1:00 PM, I FINALLY got a load from Columbus, OH to Romeoville (West Chicago Suberbs), IL (0 miles empty and 326 miles loaded). The route was I-270 west to US-33W to US-30W to I-65N to I-80W to I-55N. After picking up the load, I left Columbus at 3:15 PM. I drove to Fort Wayne, IN and took a break. I left there at 8:00 PM and drove to our Terminal in Gary, IN where I took a short break to fuel and walk the doggies. I left there at 11:15 PM and drove to Romeoville and delivered the load. I finished at about 1:30 AM. I then went to bed. I drove 310 miles.
The 15th, I got a load that picked up in Peoria, IL and delivered in Cheyenne, WY (127 miles empty and 859 miles loaded). The route was I-55S to I-74 W to I-674W to the Shipper, then I-674W to I-74 W to I-80W to Cheyenne.The Dispatch said that the load did not pick up until 8:30 PM, so I called the Customer to see if I could pick up the load early. The Shipper asked me for the Pick-up Number. I said that I did not have one. She said that I had to have it to get the load, but that I could arrive early and be loaded. I called my DM and asked her to find the Number for me. She looked up the load and said that it was in the Dispatch. I said that it wasn’t in my Dispatch. She said that it was in Line 25 of the Comments Section. I said that only the 1st 20 lines of comments go to the trucks when they are dispatched, so that if it was in Line 25, I would not see it. I then went on a “Little Rant” about not having the information I need to do my JOB. The Dispatch, along with the Shippers’ and Consignees’ name, address, and phone number, has the Bill of Lading number, the Customers’ PO number and a plethora of other information that is totally usless to me. I told her that what the Drivers need is the Pick-up Number and that it should not even be in the Comments Section, but up in the “body” of the Dispatch. I said that this is a recurring problem and causes the Driver and the Customer un-needed frustration, as well as making the Driver look like a “doofus”. She said that she would fill out a “Form 90 Driver Suggestion Form”, with my name and truck number on it, outlining this problem. Management is supposed to respond to these. WE’LL SEE. Anyway, I departed for Peoria at Noon with pick-up number in hand. I arrived at 2:45 PM. I got a door at 3:30 PM and after being loaded, left at 5:00 PM. I drove to Walcott, IA. I stopped here for dinner. I left at 9:00 PM and drove to Des Moines, IA where I stopped for the night. I drove 400 miles.
On the Wednesday, 16th, I left Des Moines at 10:00 AM. I drove to Omaha, NE. I departed there at 1:45 PM. I drove to Big Springs, NE. I stopped there for dinner. When I walked the ‘doggies’ I noticed one of the first signs of Spring. The Geese are returning.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that the Bosselman Trucstop Chain is currently offering FREE WiFi access. I left there at 10:15 PM and Drove to Hillsdale, WY where I stopped for the night.
Today, the 17th, I left Hillsdale at8:00 AM and drove the 11 miles to Cheyenne. This Customer is a ‘drop & hook’ location, so I was in and out fairly quickly. The Planners gave me a load that picks up in Fort Collins, CO and delivers in Snowflake, AZ (45 miles empty and 677 miles loaded). I left cheyenne at 11:00 AM and drove to Fort Collins, CO. The load was heavy, and the Customer would only give me a Gross Weight (no Axle Weights), so I had to stop in our Terminal in Denver to Scale the load. The load weighed 45,200 lbs. After I had Scaled the load, and made the appropriate adjustments and re-scaled the load, I discovered that my Steer Axle was 12080 lbs, my Drive Axles were 33880 lbs, my Trailer Axles were 33920 lbs and that my Gross Weight 79,880 lbs ( the maximum allowable is 80,000 lbs), so I couldn’t take on any fuel until I got to Albuquerque. I left the Terminal and went in search of a Corned Beef dinner to “celebrate” St. Patrick’s Day. I tried all 3 truckstops in the Denver area, but to no avail. DRAT, I’d been looking forward to it all day. I left Denver at 2:00 PM after a ‘hamburger steak’ dinner and drove to Raton, NM. I stopped there for a short break and drove to Albuquerque, NM where I stopped for the night. On the way there, I stopped at a Rest Area between Las Vegas (NM) and Santa Fe and took these photographs. I just liked the view.


I arrived at 10:30 PM and drove 579 miles.
March 20, 2005 (Sunday):
On the 18th, I got a late start. I had to pay some bills, so I needed an ATM and a Post Office. Serendipitously, there was a Smith’s Supermarket 2 blocks from our terminal that had BOTH. I paid and mailed my bills and, as an afterthought, did some grocery shopping. I then returned to the Terminal. I first scaled my load to determine how much fuel I could take and still be legal. I was nearly empty because I was unable to fuel in Denver. I was ’sweating bullets’ last night as I came into town, HOPING that I wouldn’t run out. I took 125 gallons and re-scaled my load. I was legal, and left Albuquerque at 12;15 pm. I drove to Snowflake, AZ and unloaded. As I was being unloaded, the Planner gave me a Pre-Plan that picked up in Prewitt, NM and delivered in Tulare, CA (165 miles empty and 771 miles loaded). I accepted it, and left Snowflake. I arrived in Prewitt at 9:30 PM and immediately got a door for loading. By the time I had walked the ‘doggies’ and did the paperwork, I was loaded. I left Prewitt, and drove to Gallup, NM where I stopped for the night. I drove 495 miles.
On the 19th, I left Gallup at 10:15 AM after taking on a full load of fuel for a change. This load is heavy too (41,500 lbs), but I have enough “room” for fuel. I drove to Kingman, AZ and took a break for dinner. After that, I drove to Lake Havasu City, AZ. This is the last truckstop before California where the Speed Limit for trucks is 55 MPH. I stopped here for 15 minutes just to walk the ‘doggies’ and mark and end to LOGGING 65 MPH. California has the nasty habit of writing Speeding Tickets if they pull you over and you have not LOGGED a stop to designate the Speed Limit change. Their excuse is that they don’t know exactly when you crossed into their “territory” (even though it should be obvious to anyone with a functioning brain stem and a rudimentry grasp of addition and subtraction). Therefore, I find it easier to “play the game” and log the stop. Anyway, I drove from there to Barstow, Ca where I stopped for the night.
Today, the 20th, I left Barstow at 11:15 AM and drove to Bakersfield (where I mis-spent my youth). I called my brother Donald to see if he was still in town visiting my uncle Doug who has been in and out of the hospital frequently in the past few months. He was, so I drove to a Mall not too far from my Uncle’s house and he picked me up. Alas, I had to leave the ‘doggies’ in the truck. My Uncle also has a dog, and it would be too stressful for everyone involved (human and animal alike) to wait for the doggies to get acquainted and then leave again. Anyway, two of my cousins, Judy and her husband Don (not my brother Donald; we’re not from Arkansas), and DeLynn, were also visiting.

Left to right: My brother Donald, yours truly, uncle Doug, aunt Helen, DeLynn, Judy, Don (Baise, Judy’s husband).
Judy and DeLynn are sisters. I hadn’t seen them in years. It was a nice visit. I left Bakersfield at 8:00 PM and drove to Tulare. I spent the night at the Customer. I drove 181 miles.
March 22nd, 2005 (Tuesday):
On Monday the 21st, I delivered the load ontime at 7:00 AM, then waited for a Pre-Plan. About noon, the Planners FINALLY gave me a load from Bakersfield, CA to Las Vegas, NV (62 miles empty and 289 miles loaded). The problem was that it didn’t pick up until tomorrow AM. I called the Customer and they said that the load wouldn’t be ready early, so I called my brother again and said that I would be able spend the rest of the day with them. I left Tulare at 12:30 PM and drove to Bakersfield. I went to the same Mall and my brother came to pick me up. Again, I left the ‘doggies’ in the truck. When I arrived, my uncle was away getting Diolasis. He didn’t return until almost 8:00 PM, but I still had a nice visit with my aunt Helen and my brother. I left about 9:00 PM and drove to the Customer to sleep for the night.
This morning, the 22nd, I picked up the load and left Bakersfield at 9:00 AM. I drove to Barstow for fuel and lunch. On the way to Barstow, I stopped at the junction of highways CA-58 and CA-223 and took these photographs. The hills are green now, but by next month, they’ll be brown as the spring grass dies off.


In the 1950’s and 1960’s, these hills used to be covered with California Golden Poppys. I didn’t see a single Poppy this time. Where did they all go?? Did the cows eat them??

I left Barstow at 12:45 PM and drove to Las Vegas. I’ll deliver the load in the AM and then take a day or two off. I can’t really afford to take too much time off this time because of the crappy miles and Maintenance woes that have been plaguing me this month.
March 28th, 2005 (Monday):
On Friday, the 25th, the Planner gave me a load that picked up in Las Vegas, NV and delivered in East Moline, IL (14 miles empty and 1585 miles loaded). The delivery date for the load wasn’t until the 31st, so I made arrangements to T-Call the load at our Terminal in Denver. The traffic was obscene. It took over 4 hours to drive from the truckstop to the shipper and get out of town. I stopped in Mesquite, NV to check my mail and take a break. When I checked out my trailer before leaving Mesquite, I discovered that I had real problems with my Trailer lights (ref: More March Maintenance Malaise on this BLOG). I was stopped for the night. I called the closest Terminal (Salt Lake City) and made arrangements to T-Call the load there instead of Denver. I couldn’t drive from Mesquite to Denver without stopping for Darkness again. I managed to drive a whopping 75 miles.
On Easter Sunday the 27th, after driving to Salt Lake and T-Calling the load to East Moline yesterday, the Planner found a load for me that picked up in Ogden, UT and delivered in Buckeye, AZ (32 miles empty and 698 miles loaded). After driving to Ogden, picking up the load, and returning to Salt Lake for fuel, I left the area at 11:00 AM. Normally, I route myself through Las Vegas to get to Phoenix. It’s 70 miles further, but the paid route is mostly rural 2-lane roads. However, the weather was nice and I had just left Vegas, so I ran the paid route, I-15S to UT-20E to US-89S through Panguich, Kanab, and Page, AZ to Flagstaff. Its a beautiful drive. I stopped in Flagstaff for the night. I saw no large, long-eared rodents nor festively decorated ovum.
Today, Monday the 28th, I left Flagstaff at 8:30 AM. I drove directly to Buckeye via I-17S and I-10 W. I arrived at 11:15 AM and delivered the load. I then waited, and waited, and waited, and waited and waited. At 5:00 PM, the Planners sent a Pre-Plan that picked up in Tempe, AZ and delivered in San Bernardino the next AM. The load was only a little over 300 paid miles and I would have had to drive completely through the Phoenix Megalopolis during rush-hour traffic. I called my DM and, on her advice, turned down the load. Because I had been sitting since before noon, and had driven almost 3 hours already, I didn’t have enough hours remaining to LEGALLY deliver the load (the 14 hour rule). I went to bed at 10:00PM.
March 31st, 2005 (Thursday):
On the 29th, I awoke to 2 messages on my QualCom. The 1st was a Pre-Plan. It came in about 1:00AM while I was sleeping. I don’t even remember where the load was going because the 2nd message took the Plan away. That message came in at 1:30AM, again while I was asleep. I guess that the theory of the Planners in Phoenix is that once a driver is available, he is to remain awake and alert until they get around to Planning him whether it takes 15 minutes or 24+ hours. I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited,and waited. No other Pre-Plans were forthcoming. I went to bed at 10:00PM again, thoroughly frustrated.
On the 30th, at 3:00PM, the Planners FINALLY found a load for me (after 2 days). In fact, they had 2 loads for me. The first picked up in Phoenix and delivered in Nogales, AZ (27 miles empty and 181 miles loaded). I was about to turn it down as an INSULT, when the 2nd Plan came over the QualCom. It picked up in El Paso, TX and delivered in Memphis, TN (350 miles empty and 1069 miles loaded). I accepted both of them. I wasn’t happy with the 350 mile Deadhead on the 2nd load (I get paid 20 cents per mile less for empty miles), but I was so THROUGH with Phoenix that I just didn’t care. I drove to Phoenix and picked up the load at 4:00PM. It was a ‘live load’ so it took an hour or so. When I took the ‘doggies’ for a walk, they made friends with another dog that lived next to the Customer. While the dogs made friends, I swapped ‘doggie data’ with the other doggie’s “mommy and daddy”. The other dog was a Chow/Shepard mix, but was really friendly. I left Phoenix at 5:00PM and drove directly to Nogales via I-10E and I-19S.
Today, Thursday the 31st, I delivered the load in Nogales and set off for El Paso. I stopped in Tucson for fuel, then Wilcox for lunch and a shower. From there, I drove directly to our Terminal in El Paso where the Memphis load was waiting. I arrived there at 8:00PM. After topping of my fuel and dropping my empty, I went to Dispatch to get the paperwork. They looked askance at me when they noticed the 350 mile Deadhead. They couldn’t believe it either!! I left El Paso at 8:30PM and drove to Pecos, TX where I spent the night. I drove 561 miles.
COMMENTS:
What a horrible month. I had nine days off, only 1 of which was at home. The rest were either from maintenance difficulties or lack of freight. I had 14 trips. I drove 1074 miles empty and 8204 miles loaded for a total of 9278 miles. That is a 13% Deadhead ratio. APPALLING. The average loaded miles per trip was only 586. That’s low. I like to see an average over 750 miles per trip. The average miles per work day was only 421 miles. That includes the 339 empty miles and 1069 loaded miles on the trip to Memphis, which was picked up on the 31st. Take out those miles and the average drops to 357 miles per day. I can legally log, depending on the State(s) in which i’m driving, between 550 to 700 miles per day. Therefore 421 miles per work day is bad and 357 is atrocious. Those numbers indicate that on the days I do work, i’m working less than 2/3 of potential. Considering the costs of repairs to the truck and the money lost by sitting and waiting for freight, this month was DEVASTATING financially.