STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21315: Soliloquy From Sayre, OK

November 20, 2005 on 2:31 pm | In On The Road |

Tick-tock, tick-tock. Today, the 20th, i’m just ‘geeking’ on the computer accumulating consecutive ‘off duty’ hours. I’ll have accumulated my 34 hours ‘off duty’ on Monday at 0945, so i’ll leave then. I could leave just after midnight on Monday, but then, I would just be picking up what ever hours I had for the corresponding day last week (in this case, 8.75 on Monday and 8 on Tuesday, etc, etc). Since Planners use ‘available hours’ as a criteria for planning loads, waiting until 0945, when I will have a full 70-hours available, will be much more beneficial in the long run. Now, to continue with the ‘daily grind’.
On the 18th, the Planner offered me a ’round-trip’ Walmart load which picked up in Moberly, MO, had 1 stop in Cedar Rapids, IA, then returned to Moberly, MO (152 miles empty and 452 miles loaded). I get paid at the ‘loaded’ rate even though i’ll be returning empty from Cedar Rapids. Also, he offered me a follow-up plan which picked up in Harrisonville, MO and delivers in Plainview, TX (155 miles empty and 638 muiles loaded). I accepted both and drove to the Flying J in KC, MO for breakfast and to wait for my load to be ready. I need to fuel, but fueling starts my 14-hour workday, so if I fuel too soon, I may run-down my 14-hour clock to the point where I can’t make the delivery. While I was waiting, the Budweiser Clydesdales’ trailer briefly parked in the lot. The ‘Clydesdales’ weren’t with him. DRAT! He was enroute to St. Louis to pick them up. I was allowed to take these pictures.

There are 6 different Teams of 8 matched Clydesdales each. They are located regionally throughout the US (St Louis, Miami, Los Angeles to mention a few). I forgot to ask him how they transported the wagon that they use for their shows. This trailer doesn’t look large enough to accomodate the 8 horses and the wagon, although it might.

The picture on the left was taken from the front of the trailer facing rear. The picture on the right is the opposite. The trailers are fully self-contained.
At noon, my load was ready, so I fueled and drove to Moberly. I picked up my load and drove to Cedar Rapids. I arrived at 2030. The nice thing about this load, was that they had to unload me as soon as I arrived because on this load I was basically driving for Walmart. I was out of there by 2100. I drove back to Moberly and went to bed. I worked 11 hours, driving 573 miles in 10 hours.
Speaking of hours, I only have 11.25 available for the 19th, then zero for the 20th. The load which I pick-up today going to Plainview delivers anytime before midnight on the 22nd, so this isn’t really a problem. I can use my 11.25 hours, then take 34 off to re-start my 70-hour clock on Monday. Then I can worry about getting to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving. I’ll run out of hours somewhere between Okahoma City and Amarillo. Hopefully there will be a good Truckstop wherever that happens to be.
Anyway, I left Moberly at noon and drove to Harrisonville. This was a drop/hook customer, but all didn’t go exactly smoothly. I arrived at 1500. The first problem that I encountered was that the load was loaded on a 57-ft trailer, which is illegal in Missouri. I don’t have a clue to how it got there, but I suspect that some idiot rookie driver with incredible luck managed to get it there. All the State Weigh Stations must have been closed that day. 57-ft trailers are legal in Oklahoma and Texas, so after being assured by Week-end Dispatch that Swift would re-imburse me if I got stopped, I consented to take the load. The second problem I encountered was that the trailer was parked so close to the next trailer that I couldn’t raise the ‘landing gear’. The ‘yard man’ was gone for the day, so there was no help there. I called Dispatch (again) and told them that I could move the trailer next to mine (which belonged to Werner), then get mine out, but since it was basically an additional drop/hook, I wanted to be paid for it. They gave me $35.00. I hooked to the Werner trailer, and moved it to a place that had 4 open spots in a row. I dropped it at an angle across all 4 just for spite so the idiot ‘yardman’ (hopefully the same one that blocked my trailer) would have to move it again later. There, take that. Last, but not least, the load weighed 45, 700lbs. I wasn’t sure that I could even get it legal. The Tandems were in the rear-most position, so I once again did my WAG calculations and adjusted the axle. This time I was dead-on. I had 11920 lbs on the steer axle, 33880 lbs on the drive axle and 33760 on the tandem axle. I gave myself a mental ‘pat on the back’ and drove to Joplin, MO. I had dinner, then drove to Oklahoma City. After bringing my Log Book up to date, I discovered that I still had 1.5 hours available. What the heck, I might as well use them. I’ll be that much closer to Plainview on Monday. I left OKC at 2215 and drove to Sayre, OK. There is a Flying J here, so my day off won’t be too bad. I worked 11.25 hours using 10.5 of those to drive 639 miles.