STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

VEINTE Y CINCO DE MAYO (Life Day 21136)

May 25, 2005 on 7:33 am | In On The Road |

On the 23rd, I did not “shuffle off to Buffalo” as I originally intended. I “shuffled” only to Harborcreek, PA (about 80 miles from Buffalo). I stopped here because: 1) I found a parking place, 2) I’m not familiar with the Buffalo area and did not know if there were any “safe” places to park and wait for my appointment time, and 3) New York is a Neo-Socialist Nanny State that does not allow smoking in restaurants and other public places so I wanted to get in and out ASAP.
On the 24th, I left Harborcreek at 8:30 AM and drove to Buffalo. When I arrived at the Consignee, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was a drop/hook facility. Much to my chagrin, I also discovered that they had NO empty Swift trailers available. I contacted my DM, and she, in turn, contacted the Planner for this area. Soon after, the Planner sent me directions to a Customer in Tonawanda, NY (about 10 miles north of Buffalo) and told me to check for an empty there. The Planner also gave me a Pre-Plan that picked up somewhere in Ontario, Canada and delivered in Detroit, MI. I turned it down because I Don’t Do Canada anymore after 911 Disaster. Too much B.S. crossing the border (more from the American side than the Canadian. It can take HOURS to re-enter the country.). Anyway, there were no empties at that Customer either, so I went through the rigmarole again. This time the Planner sent me to a ‘drop yard’ that we have in Tonawanda (a corner in the lot of another trucking company). There were no empty trailers there either. O.K. Now, I’m getting a little peeved. Finally, I get a Pre-Plan. It said that it picked up in Williamson, NY and delivered in Newport, MI (12 miles empty and 345 miles loaded). Because of the shortness of the trip, My DM arranged to T-Call it at our new Terninal in New Boston (greater Detroit), MI. I accepted it. After waiting about an hour, I contacted my DM and asked her to Dispatch me on the load so that I could pick it up. I assumed that it was a Pre-loaded trailer since I still didn’t have an empty, and I wanted to get rolling. She said that the load was a ‘live load’ and that another truck was picking it up and would ‘drop’ it at the ‘drop yard’ in Tonawanda. I was to wait there. It was scheduled to pick up at 2:00 PM (by this time it’s already 1:30 PM) and the other driver was already there. I settled in for the wait. It’s about a 2 hour drive from Williamson to Tonawanda, so I asked one of the “local” drivers about a place to eat while I was waiting. I was directed to a fairly nice ‘Mom & Pop” restaurant called the Olympic Restaurant. As one would infer from the name, it had a large variety of Greek specialties. I was about to try one of them, when I spied ‘home-made’ corned beef hash on the menu. I opted for that, along with an order of cinnamon toast. It was really ‘home-made’ and delicious. The cinnamon toast came with a ‘glaze’ that made it a little too sweet for my taste. Should the occasion arise, I’ll order it again, but without the ‘glaze’. I returned to the drop yard and waited some more. FINALLY, about 8:00 PM my load arrived. The driver said that it had taken 4 hours to load him. I can believe it!! Been There, Done That. By the time I got hooked to the trailer, walked the BCC and did the paperwork, I left beautiful downtown Tonawanda at 8:30 PM. By this time I only have 2 hours remaining on my 14 hour window, so I drove back to Harborcreek, PA and went to bed. I drove 192 miles in 3.5 hours.
Today, the 25th, I left Harborcreek at 9:15 PM and drove to our Terminal in New Boston, MI. Soon after the T-Call, the Planner offered me a load that picked up in Montpelier, OH and delivers ASAP in Cleveland, NC (95 miles empty and 555 miles loaded). I accepted it and went to find an empty trailer. This went much smoother than yesterday. I located one in about 15 minutes. I left New Boston at 4:oo PM and arrived in Montpelier at 5:45 PM. There was a truck ahead of me, so I had a little wait. There were 2 open, grassy, fields there, and little traffic, so the BCC got to run off-leash. They had fun chasing the birdies. After loading, I left Montpelier at 7:30 PM. I drove to North Baltimore, OH and stopped for the night. There is an excesssive amount of non-freeway driving on this load, and I prefer to do it during daylight hours. The 73 miles I drove from Montpelier to North Baltimore convinced me of this. About 300 miles of the 555 miles on this trip are on State or US highways (the back-roads). I drove 425 hours in 7.75 hours.