STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21738: Whiling Away The Hours In Wilmington

January 17, 2007 on 7:52 pm | In On The Road |

These doldrums caused by the lack of freight are making it easy to keep you informed of my whereabouts. In that vane, here’s the diary of my latest ventures.

Monday, Jan 15th, 2007:
I finally recieved and accepted a PrePlan around 1000 which picked up in Salt Lake City, UT and delivered in Las Vegas, NV, a whopping 412 mile run. I fueled, then drove to the shipper. I picked up the load and was underway by about 1230. The load was originally scheduled to deliver at 2230 tonight, but that appointment was moved up to 2130 while I was en route. No problem. there was plenty of time to do that without rushing. I stopped at the MMM’s favorite Rest Area on I-15 south at mm-88 in Utah. It was C O L D (7 degrees). Their little “feetsies” froze and it wasn’t too long before they were ready to leave. That’s good because so was daddy. We stopped once more on I-15 at exit 75 in Nevada at the Moapa Indian truckstop to buy some relatively cheap smokes. I can buy them much cheaper in Missouri, and a couple of other States that aren’t trying to “tax them out of existance”, but for this area, they’re cheap. I then drove to the consignee. I arrived 45 minutes early, and had to wait to be unloaded. Normally these loads are drop/hook, but since I was the only truck expected in tonight, they did a ‘live’ unload. They finished around 2300, and I drove to the WWW and went to bed.

Tuesday:
I decided not to take any time off here this time and made myself available this AM at 0800. About 1000, I recieved and accepted a PrePlan which picked up in Beryl, UT and delivered in Long Beach, CA. Another load under 500 miles, but this one has a 200 mile deadhead, so it’s actually a little under 700 miles. I left about 1100. I took the “scenic shortcut” to get to Beryl (UT-18N instead of I-15N to UT-56W). It saves about 30 miles, but takes just as long if not longer to drive because it is a 2 lane road through a National Forest. It was a nice drive. I arrived a little before 1400. This was a load of hay. What was different about it was that it was packaged for overseas shipment in small (18 inch x 18 inch x 24 inch bales) “shrinkwrapped” together into “pallet sized” stacks. I’ve never seen hay shipped this way before. Anyway, since hay is shipped by weight, I drove onto the scale and got my “light weight”. After that, I spotted the trailer into the dock. It only took about 1/2 hour to be loaded. I then went onto the scale again for my “loaded/tare weight”. I checked my axle weights as I drove onto the scale and discovered that I was a little overweight on my tandem (trailer) axle. While they were doing the paperwork, I adjusted my axles and re-weighed. This time I was legal. I left about 1530. This time I drove via UT-56 to Cedar City, then I-15 south. While I was driving through the Virgin River Canyon, a pick-up driver signaled me that I had a flat tire on my trailer. I stopped in Mesquite, NV and had it repaired. I lost about 1 1/2 hours. I then drove to the WWW for dinner. I had the Prime Rib. It’s not too bad for $9.99 plus tax. After dinner and a good MMM walk, I drove to Hesparia, Ca where I stopped for the night.

Wednesday:
I left Hesparia about 1000 and drove the 85 odd miles to the consignee. I arrived a little before noon and drove directly onto the scale for my “heavy weight”. I then spotted my trailer into the dock. It took about 1 1/2 hours to unload for some reason. While I was being unloaded, I took the MMM for a walk. During this walk, I discovered that the only way to get out was to back all the way out the same way I entered. NICE!! After I was unloaded, I swept my trailer, left the dock, and backed all the way down the narrow driveway, avoiding the obstacles, onto the scale again. After getting the “light weight” I figured out to get out without backing all the way onto the street. The only problem was that the “roach coach” had just arrived and was blocking the exit. I had to wait another 15 minutes before I could leave. I drove to our terminal in Wilmington, CA to wait for my next load. I found a hose and washed out my trailer to remove the rest of the hay that the broom couldn’t remove.