STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22330: Communique From Cheyenne

August 31, 2008 on 12:38 pm | In On The Road |

Let’s see, where did I leave off in my last post? Oh yeah, I was waiting for the Ogden, UT to Paris, TX load to be ready.
I waited for most of the day to be dispatched on the load so I could go pick it up. Without being dispatched, I have no way of knowing exactly where the load picks up. All I get in the PrePlan is the company name and the city and state of origin. I sent a couple of inquiries during the course of the day, but all I could get out of the weekend Planners is the load would be ready about 1600. At 1600, I again asked about the load, this time requesting directions to the shipper so I could see what was going on for myself. After I got the requested directions, I drove to the customer. There, I checked with Security. He asked me for my pick-up number. I, of course, didn’t have one because I still hadn’t been dispatched on the load. It turns out that the load had been ready since before midnight last night, because this customer doesn’t work weekends. I sent a snarky little note to the Planner asking him/her why I had been sitting all day waiting for a load that was already pre-loaded. I never got an answer to that question, but I did finally get dispatched on the load so I could pick it up. I finally got out of town about 1730, but the trailer was missing a mud flap, and I needed fuel, so I had to stop in Salt Lake City to take care of all that. I finally, finally got out of “Dodge” about 1930, already tired, frustrated and fuming. I drove to Springville, UT (just south of Provo) and called it a day/night.

The next day, the 24th, I drove to Albuquerque, NM. Nothing exciting or unusual occurred.

The 25th brought me to my destination in Paris, TX. Along the way, I received and accepted a PrePlan which picked up at another customer in Paris and delivered in Laredo, TX. After I did the drop/hook delivery, I drove to a nearby small truck stop and settled in for the night.

The 26th was a fairly straight forward day. I picked up my load and drove to Laredo. I stopped twice. The first stop was in Lancaster, TX at our terminal for fuel. The second was in Hillsboro, TX. I had dinner here at a Black-eyed Pea restaurant. This is a small chain of “home-style” restaurants located in Texas and Colorado. The food is excellent, plentiful, and cheap. I got out for $15.00 and change, less tip, but including a drink (iced tea, naturally), desert, and a extra side order of Black-eyed peas (why go there if you aren’t going to try the signature dish). While I was waiting for my order, they brought me a plate of bread (two nice sized dinner rolls and two pieces of corn bread). They offered more bread during my meal, but I refused. I was too full already. I had Meat Loaf, Corn, Mac & Cheese, and the above mentioned Black-eyed Peas for my dinner, and Peach Cobbler for desert. YUM, YUM, YUM!!!

The 27th went all right for the most part. I arrived at the customer about 1015. Much to my surprise, it was in a residential area downtown. Not a good place to be in a 73 ft vehicle. The customer opened my trailer, checked the load, re-sealed the trailer, and said I was to take it back to the Swift terminal (13 miles north) and drop it for transportation across the border later. This whole process didn’t make much sense to me. Couldn’t he come to the terminal once a day, check his trailers, and release the paperwork. Why put us drivers at risk traversing narrow streets with absolute MORONS doing everything they can to screw up your day. After I returned to the terminal and dropped the trailer, I went to the TA truck stop. I put my truck in the shop for a PM service, and had lunch. Later in the day, I accepted a load to Miami, FL (not even thinking of Gustav or Hanna). I picked up the load and drove to Brookshire, TX and stopped for the night (that pesky 14 hour rule).

The 28th turned out to be another frustrating day. When I figured out my available hours for the rest of the week, I discovered that I would be about 2 hours short of being able to deliver the load on time. I was told to drop the load at our drop yard in Houston. A little while after I did that, I was told to take an empty trailer to a customer in Hawkins, TX for the hurricane relief effort. Along the way, I received a PrePlan that picked up in Longview, TX and dropped at our terminal in Gary, IN. Silly me, I assumed that the Planner realized that I would not have an empty trailer available when I was done because I was doing a trailer re-location trip. After I dropped the trailer, I asked to be dispatched on the Longview to Gary load. They (night shift dispatch in Phoenix) asked me what empty trailer I had. I told them that I didn’t have an empty because I had just dropped it at the customer in Hawkins as instructed. They then dispatched me with the same empty trailer I had just dropped. This started a chain of phone calls and QualCom messages that spanned over 3 hours. At the end of it all, they finally realized that I didn’t have an empty trailer, and why (or so I thought). They then asked me if I wanted directions to get an empty trailer or if I wanted them to void the dispatch. I said give me directions to an empty trailer. They then sent me directions back to the same customer in Hawkins. I told them NO!! I wasn’t going back the the same customer to which I had just dropped an empty trailer for a Humanitarian Relief Effort and ask for an empty. At this point, I just told them to void the dispatch and I would deal with people in the morning who had functioning brain-stems. (Centralized Dispatch, not unlike Centralized Government, is rife with incompetence and incompetents). I drove to the nearest sanctuary in Tyler, TX and went to bed.
The 29th was a much better day. I received a PrePlan and directions to an empty trailer (not the customer in Hawkins) at the same time. It picked up in Mineral Wells, TX and has two deliveries in Wyoming on the 2nd of September. They are both to Wind Farms near small towns (Glenrock, and Hanna), so it should be interesting. Anyway, after I picked up the load, I drove to Amarillo, TX where I stopped for the day.

On the 30th, I drove to Cheyenne, WY. I’ll stay here until Monday afternoon, then drive to Glenrock, which is up near Casper. I want to find this place while it is still daylight. If possible, I’ll just spent the night there at the wind farm. If not, at least I’ll know where it is so I can drive straight there on Tuesday morning from whatever sanctuary I can find nearby.
I haven’t had any luck reaching any of the relatives here in Cheyenne. They must be off gallivanting for the weekend. Oh well, I’ll keep trying.