STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21306: Veterans Day Vivification

November 11, 2005 on 5:29 pm | In On The Road, Travelblogue |

On the 6th, I left Grand Junction at 1430 (a bit late, but I was enjoying the day). I drove to Denver where I fueled and had dinner. I left Denver at 2000 and drove to North Platte, NE where I stopped for the night. Both of the 10,000+ foot passes were clear (Vail & Breckenridge), so I encountered no adverse driving conditions. A scenic, but routine drive.
On the 7th, I left North Platte at 1030 and drove to Gretna, NE. I took a short berak here to walk the MMM, then drove to Des Moines, IA. I fueled here, took another short break, then drove to Davenport, IA where I stopped for the night. Boring driving on a lazy day.
The 8th became greuling as the day progressed. It began by my driving the 125 odd miles from Davenport, IA to Morris, IL where I dropped my loaded trailer. This customer has no empties, so I had to drive to our terminal in Gary, IN to get one (about 60 miles). Sixty miles doesn’t seem far until you factor in Chicago Metroplex traffic and the perpetual construction on that portion of I-80 over which I had to travel. A 1 hour drive became 2+. The Planner, over the course on my slumber last night, offered me a load which picked up in McCook, IL (Chicago) and delivered in Reynoldsburg (Columbus), OH (38 miles empty and 332 miles loaded). This meant that I had to “run the gauntlet” again. Traffic was lighter going back the other way (I guess that there are more people leaving Chicago than trying to get there). At any rate, I arrived in McCook at 1430. I left an hour later with about 350 miles to drive and 6.75 hours remaining in which to do it. Most of this driving was on OTF (other than freeway) roads in 55 mph States. I arrived in Reynoldsburg at 2200 after driving non-stop from McCook, did the drop/hook delivery and went directly to bed at the customer. I had 0 hours remaining to drive for the day, so there was no other option. An arduous day driving, but uneventful. I worked 12.5 hours, driving 564 miles in 11 hours.
With my 70-hour clock soon coming into play, I awoke on the 9th with a Pre-Plan. The load picked up in Chillocothe, OH and delivered in Miami, FL with 2 interum stops; one in Columbia, SC and the other in North Charleston, SC (45 miles empty and 1152 miles loaded). I accepted the load, knowing that once I deliver in Miami, i’m going to need to take 34 hours off to re-start my 70-hour clock. I left Reynoldsburg at 0830 and drove the 50 miles to Chillocothe. I did the drop/hook pick-up and left at 1000. I drove to Wytheville VA. I took a 30-minute break and then drove to Columbia, SC where I ended my day. It began to rain as I entered West Virginia and just south of Charleston, WV I drove into a horrific maelstrom. It only lasted for about 10-minutes, but it was nasty. After that the weather cleared and all was well. I drove 511 miles in 9 hours.
I began my day at 0500 on the 10th by making the 1st delivery of this 3 stop load. The time difference between Eastern Time and Mountain Time (on which I base my log book) can make for some seemingly early appointments. This customer was located in a small industrial complex. It wasn’t made for OTR trucks with 53′ trailers. I had to ‘blind-side’ back into a dock next to a building. I had very little room in front of my tractor in which to maneuver so that compounded the difficulty. Little did I know that this would be the easiest backing maneuver of the 3 stops. After this, I drove to North Charleston, SC and my next ‘adventure’. At this stop, I had to again ‘blind-side’ back except this time it was from a 2-lane street, around some concrete ‘construction-type’ barriers (obviously put there for the sole purpose of protecting his mailbox ) into a 12′ wide driveway between 2 buildings. Par for the course, the obtuse, ignorant, imbecilic, moronic 4 wheelers cut me no slack. They wouldn’t stop and let me do my job. No, no, their time is much too important. They were driving on the shoulder going around me as I was backing. Those that weren’t were honking their horns. Due only to my driving skill, I managed to avoid all of them and complete the maneuver. Sometimes I wish I could just go “Postal” on these A__Holes!! Anyway, I finished at this stop at 0830 and began the trek to Miami. I drove to Richmond Hill GA, fueled, ate and walked the MMM. The truckstop restaurant was under renovation, so I had to eat at a Waffle House (a chain of restaurants rampant throughout the south). This form of torture should be reserved for only the most odious of our species. (Waffle House makes Denny’s seem like a 5-star Bistro). The U.S. Military should consider using it as a means of obtaining information from Terrorists. [Oh no!! We have withstood being stripped naked and forced to wear womens’ undergarments on our head; we have withstood the threat of being ripped to shreds by your mangy canines; we have even withstood your acts of sacrilege against our most Holy Koran; please, please Mr. infidel oppressor do not force us to eat at Waffle House. We will tell you everything you want to know].
I left at 1200 and drove to Fort Pierce, FL. This is the closest “civilized” truckstop to Miami, so I stopped here for the night. By “civilized” I mean without (or at least with fewer) prostitutes, pimps, or panderers. Besides, I didn’t have enough hours remaining to make it all the way to Miami anyway (it’s about 120 miles away). On this day, I labored for 10.5 hours, using 9.5 to drive 565 miles. Aside from the ‘blind-side’ backing is was relatively unstressful.
On this Veterans Day, my decision to ‘lay-up’ in Ft. Pierce proved to be sound. I left at 0500 and drove to Miami. I arrived at the customer at 0715. The dock area at the consignee was microscopic. I, yet another time, had to ‘blind-side’ back into their dock. This time, besides confined space, there were numerous obstacles as well. These photographs may help illustrate the difficulty.


With the help of the consignee, I made it into the dock. There was no way I was even going to attempt this without a ’spotter’. After I was unloaded, I had to wait for a Pre-Plan. This was a deliberate calculation on my part. Because of the dwindling availability of hours on my 70-hour clock, I had set my PTA for Sunday AM to insure that I would be left without a PrePlan until I knew my exact situation. I confered with my DM and let her know my situation, which was as follows: I began the day with 9.5 total hours available for the day, with none available to ‘pick-up’ at midnight. Therefore, 9.5 available for both today and tomorrow combined. I used 2.25 driving to Miami and another .5 in my safety check and spotting my trailer at the consignee. This meant that I now had 6.75 available for the next 2 days. My intention was to pick up a load in the Miami area and T-Call it at our terminal in Ocala, FL 300 miles (5 hours) away, then take the necessary 34-hours off to re-start the 70-hour clock. She re-set my PTA, then informed the Planner of my situation and intentions. Miraculously, the Planner managed to find a load which has enough time in the ‘delivery window’ to enable me to make the delivery and re-start my 70-hour clock. No T-Call necessary. It picked up in Medely, FL and delivered in Winchester, VA (10 miles empty and 1085 miles loaded). I accepted it and departed for the shipper. This was a drop/hook customer, so all went quickly. While I was there, I noticed that they had some recent hurricane damage, either from Katrina or Rita. I don’t think Wilma hit this far south.

It must not have been too bad, because the building seems to be relatively undamaged. Anyway, after leaving the customer, I drove to Fort Pierce, FL and called it a day (or actually 2 days). I could have moved closer to Jacksonville but traffic was heavy due to construction and I was tired. I’ll be able to leave Sunday AM (with a fresh 70-hours) and still deliver before the Monday PM deadline.