STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22334: Overwrought in Ogden

September 4, 2008 on 6:48 pm | In On The Road |

Well I’m back in Ogden, UT again, and again waiting for a load. Deja vu all over again. This one picks up here (in Ogden) tomorrow morning and drops anytime at our drop yard in North Las Vegas. At last, a load home.

These last few days have been trying (my patience) and frustrating. Let me elaborate. I believe I left off last time at a wind farm in Glenrock, WY wiling away the hours until my delivery. I awoke about 0645 on Tuesday, the 2nd and took the MMM for their morning constitutional. I notice that Wolfie was favoring his right hind paw. Nothing to be done about it now, he’ll have to suffer until I get back to Vegas. I couldn’t see anything wrong so it’ll have to wait until I can get him into the Vet. Shortly thereafter, an employee came by, looked at my paperwork and said he would be back to get me later. About 1115, another employee came by, checked my paperwork, called someone on his walkie-talkie, and said someone would be along shortly to take me to the site. About noon, I finally was escorted to the actual delivery site, some 9 odd miles from the Security Gate where I was ‘camped’. When I say this place was out in the middle of nowhere, I am not exaggerating or joking, as the pictures below verify.

The unloading process was a bit different too.

There was no “dock”, so they had to hook a chain to the pallets and drag them to the rear of the trailer one at a time. They then used the forklift in its intended manner to remove the pallet from the trailer. I took over 2 hours to unload 19 pallets.
I finally arrived at the second drop about 1615. It was identical to the first, except for the wait. In fact, the terrain was so much like the first stop that I didn’t even break out my camera for more pictures. Why bother. Just look at the pictures above again, then in your mind, substitute Hanna, WY for Glenrock. It took another 2 hours to unload here, using the same technique as described above.
Sometime during my drive up from Cheyenne yesterday, I received a PrePlan which picked up in Green River, WY and T-called at the Salt Lake City terminal. After I was unloaded, I was dispatched on that load and headed to Green River, some 3.5 hours away. It said that I had until midnight to pick up the load, so I thought I had enough time left despite the delay this morning to pick it up. When I arrived at the customer about 2200, I was told that they only loaded ‘dry vans’ between 0600 and 1700. The unloading until midnight was for chemical bulk loads only. A perfect capper to my day. I drove to Little America, which was only about 8 miles away and went to bed.

On the 3rd, I arrived back at the shipper a little before 0900. I was given a dock door right away, but was informed that I would have to wait about 3 hours before I was loaded because they were waiting for some of the product. To top it off, the MMM were not allowed out of the truck, even on a leash. Poor guys. Good thing I walked them just before I left Little America. I was finally loaded about 1330. I drove back to Little America to weigh the load. Surprisingly, the weights were good. The way yesterday went, I was amazed. I decided to have lunch before I drove to SLC. Just a burger & fries. I finally arrived in SLC about 1800 and T-called the load. I requested a load to Vegas so I could get Wolfie’s paw looked at. There was nothing available that late in the day, no surprise, so I just called it a day.

The 4th, fell right in line with the previous 2 days. I awoke about 0600 and took Walter for his walk, and Wolfie for his “hobble”. I took care of a couple of things in the office, then went to breakfast at the Sapp Brother’s truck stop. My waitress was outside smoking when I approached, so I joined her. As she went inside, she asked what I wanted. I said my “usual”, which is crispy hash browns with sausage gravy on top, with 2 scrambled eggs on top of that (which I call “the mess”), along with a waffle on a separate plate, and of course, hot tea. Sometimes it nice to be a “regular”. When I went inside a few minutes later, my tea was already brewing at my usual spot. Just as I finished my scrumptious breakfast, I received a  PrePlan which picked up in SLC and delivered in Saint George, UT.  I accepted it and went back to the terminal.  I picked up an empty  “reefer” that they wanted moved over to this customer and went on my way. When I arrived at the shipper, I dropped the empty “reefer” and went inside for my load. There I discovered that the trailer on which the load was loaded was one of our 4 axle “heavy haul” trailers which I can’t legally pull with my 2 axle tractor (do you see where this is going). So, I lost that load. I received another load which was T-called at the terminal and went to Mira Loma, CA. It was scheduled for delivery on the 8th, so there was time for me to take some ‘home time’ and still make the delivery. By the time I got back to the terminal about 15 minutes later, they had pulled that load off of me as well. I have no idea why. About an hour later, I received my 3rd load of the day. This one picked up here in Ogden, UT and was scheduled to T-call at our drop yard in North Las Vegas. Before I left I asked if it was Pre-loaded or a live load. I was told that it was a live load for the 5th at 0600. I left SLC about 1445 and drove to Ogden. I drove to the customer first just to find them. I didn’t want to be wandering around in the dark looking for this place in the morning. I then drove to the Flying J to settle in. After I ate way too much at the Buffet, I got lazy and bored, so I decided to drive back to the customer and spent the night there.

Addendum:
Today, the 5th, was not without it’s frustrations as well. I awoke about 0530 and walked/hobbled the MMM. I checked in with the shipping clerk at 0600. He said that my load was already loaded by the Swift shuttle driver yesterday, but he had the paperwork with him and he wouldn’t be in until 0700. He arrived promptly at 0700. When he gave me my paperwork, I noticed that the trailer number ended with “666″.  True to form, when I weighed the load at the Flying J, I was 500 lbs over gross (80,000). I went back to the shipper where they had to pull off one pallet of product, and re-distribute the rest of the load. This time I was legal when I went back to the Flying J to re-weigh. I noticed that they had pork fritters on the menu as one of the specials, so I decided to have breakfast before I left. I went into the restaurant and was seated. The waitress took my drink order (hot tea) and when she brought it I ordered  breakfast. She informed me that they were out of pork fritters. Since I had already sweetened my tea, I couldn’t just leave, so I ordered my “Flying J usual” which is the Big 3 Combo (eggs, 3 bacon, 3 sausage, hash browns, and 3 pieces of French toast made with actual French bread). It was good (they even got the hash browns crispy enough which is unusual for Flying J), but it wasn’t a D___ pork fritter!!!! I finally left about 1100. I drove to the drop yard in NLV, stopping only once at the MMM’s favorite rest area. I then went and got my truck washed and took a shower at the Flying J, mainly because I had a shower ticket that would expire if I didn’t use it today. After that, I drove to the WWW.  HOME AT LAST, HOME AT LAST!!! Poor wounded Wolfie will finally get to see the Vet tomorrow. I hope it is nothing too serious.