STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21615: Routed to Rialto

September 16, 2006 on 11:38 pm | In On The Road |

Finding an empty trailer on Wednesday, the 13th, proved to be literally as easy as driving across the street. Swift has a “drop yard” directly across the street from the truckstop where I chose to stay to replenish my 70-hours. Pretty handy. After locating an empty, I departed for the Shipper in Jefferson City, MO some 160 miles away. I arrived at 1300 after stopping in Warrenton, MO for fuel. This was a heavy load, and my tanks were at 3/8 full. I wanted have full tanks when I arrived at the shipper. This way, if i’m overweight, they have to cut product to get me legal. If I arrive with “low” fuel tanks, and the load is barely legal,  I have to hassle with fueling every 2 or 3 hundred miles so as to always be “legal”. As it turned out, they over-estimated the 45000+ lbs considerably. I was well within legal limits even with full tanks when I weighed the load. At 1400, after the drop/hook, I drove to Joplin, MO. I took a nice long break here for dinner and a good MMM walk. At 1930, I left and drove to Oklahoma City, OK where I decided to stop for the night. I covered about 570 miles.
On Thursday I left OKC at 0930 and drove to Amarillo, TX. I had ‘breakfast’ here because Oklahoma recently joined the ranks of Neo-Facist Nanny States by banning smoking in restaurants. At 1515, I drove to our terminal in Albuquerque, NM. I stopped here for fuel and to walk the MMM. At 2045, I drove to Gallup, NM where I stopped for the night. I expended all of my alloted 11 driving hours driving 675 miles.
On Friday, I left Gallup at 1030 and drove to Kingman, AZ. I decided to take my “time-off” at my brothers house in Palo Alto, CA rather than Las Vegas. I haven’t been there for a while, and a nice rest will do me good. I called him to be sure he would be there and not out galavanting in his RV. He said they would be there. I then called my DM to make the arrangments with the Planners. I also called the Consignee to inquire about the policy of “no pets”. They said that as long as I kept them in the truck while on their property, pets were OK. This saved the hassle of T-Calling this load and finding something else.  I left Kingman at 1730 and drove to Hesparia, CA. Hesparia is at the foot of Cajon Pass about 35 miles from Rialto. I gave the MMM a good stroll then drove to the Consignee arriving at 2315. This was supposed to be a drop/hook delivery, but, par for the course in this area, they had no empties onto which to hook, so I did a “drop” delivery, then drove to our terminal in Fontana. I checked with the Planner and accepted a load which picked up tomorrow (the 16th) anytime and delivered on the 17th in Lathrop, CA anytime after 1300. This load was ideal because the Consignee is next door to our Terminal there. Also, my brother was having a “garage sale” and I would be arriving after it was over so there would be no ‘hassle’ about where to park my truck while the ’sale’ was going on. After securing this load, I went to bed. I drove 613 miles using all of my 11-hours.
I spent most of the morning of the 16th trying to find an empty trailer. After searching (on foot) both our Fontana and Mira Loma terminals, I finally secured an empty trailer by serendipity. A driver dropping his empty to pick up a loaded trailer in our Fontana terminal happened to back into the spot next to me, and I ’snagged’ it before anyone else. Finally, at 1300, I drove to the Shipper in Rialto and did the drop/hook pick-up. At 1345, I departed and drove to Harris Ranch (Coalinga). I, of course, had to have the Chicken Fried Steak, but this time, I opted to have it as breakfast. It was yummy as usual. I then drove to our terminal in Lathrop, after first trying unsuccessfully to drop the load early at the Consignee. I was told that 1300 was the earliest that I could make the delivery. Oh well, it was worth a try. I drove 379 miles.