STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Dillydallying in Denver

On Monday, I went to pick up that load to Bloomington, MN. When I was dispatched on the load I noticed that there was no way I could make the delivery date of Wednesday at 0530. The Planner in Fontana assured me that he was aware of the problem and that the load would be rescheduled en route. The facility was crowded, but I got loaded in about 2 hours anyway. Before I left, I gave the Planner my new ETA to the customer (Thursday at 1000), then began the trip. I drove without incident to Salina, UT where my 14-hours for the day expired.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the 23rd, I noticed that the delivery date still had not been re-scheduled. I contacted my DM, giving her the complete history. I then began driving for the day. About 4 hours later, I was notified that the load had been re-scheduled for the 29th at 0530. I immediately asked my DM where I could T-call the load. There is no way that I was going to sit for 4 extra days in Minnesota waiting to deliver. The only logical place to do the T-call was our terminal in Denver, and at the time, I was 4 hours away. Finally, just before shift change, the T-call came through. I finished the drive to Denver and did the T-call. There was no freight, so that ended my day.

Today, Wednesday, I received a PrePlan which picks up in Golden, CO and delivers in Elkton, VA. The problem is that I need an empty trailer, and I don’t have one. The Planner told me to try to find one in the yard. So far this morning, I have walked the yard twice, finding an empty trailer both times, only to find that the Planner had already dispatched it on another truck. My current status is that I’m waiting. I told the Planner that I was through playing that game (finding an empty trailer only to have him give it to someone else). I guess that when the pick up time becomes critical enough, they’ll find me an empty trailer like they seem to be doing for everyone else. If not, the load will not be picked up on time.

ADDENDUM: Nothing seems easy with Swift anymore. About 2 hours before my pick-up time, I received a series of messages concerning empty trailers. The first directed me to a customer in Henderson, the second said to disregard the previous message, and the third gave me a trailer that was the Denver yard. When I went to get the trailer, there was another driver hooked to it, just driving around in the yard. With what had been happening earlier in the day, I thought that they would contact that driver and tell him to drop it so I could hook to it. They had already dispatched we on the load, with that trailer. No such luck (I love consistency). They instead, sent me to another customer in Henderson for a trailer. By now, rush hour had begun. When I arrived at that customer, naturally, there were no Swift trailers there. After a while, they sent me to a customer in Commerce City. At long last, I finally found an empty. By the time I was re-dispatched on the load with the trailer I found, got the directions to the shipper, did the paperwork, and drove to Golden, it was 1700, two hours late for my scheduled pick-up time. It didn’t seem to matter too much to the shipper. When I checked in, I was told I was 3rd in line behind the truck already in the door, . Finally, about 2030, I was loaded. I drove to Colby, KS arriving about 0030, and stopped for the night. Having awoke at 0600, I was too tired to go any farther.

Life Day 22352: Same Stuff Different Day

When I left you last Monday, I was in Quartzsite, AZ just getting ready to drive to Phoenix to deliver my load. Par for the course, I had trouble with the delivery. When I arrived at the consignee, I discovered that they took deliveries by appointment only, and naturally the CSR had failed to make one. I also discovered that the Shipper had added an additional delivery in Goodyear, AZ (which I had to pass by on the way to Phoenix). I  drove to Goodyear to try to make that delivery, but with the same result. I was finally allowed to T-call the load at our terminal in Phoenix, after wasting about 4 hours. By then, there was no freight left, so I was done for the day.

On Tuesday, I got a load to North Las Vegas. I made the pick-up and delivery with no trouble, then drove to the WWW for some home time. Time to clear my head.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I did the mundane things I normally do when home; check mail, laundry, wash vehicles, etc, etc, etc. I was going to leave on Thursday, but I decided to extend my stay. Petsmart has their “shot clinic” and the MMM needed a number of Vaccines. Also, Wolfie needed a follow up for his ’soft tissue damage’ (which was all better). By using the “shot clinic”, I save $50.00 in ‘office visit’ fees.

On Friday, the 19th, I received a load to Amarillo, TX which I accepted. It didn’t deliver until the 23rd at 0300, so my DM set up a T-call in Albuquerque.  I left Vegas about noon and drove uneventfully to Albuquerque, arriving a little after midnight.

On Saturday, I was told that there was no freight and to find an empty trailer and deadhead to Fontana (LA), CA (750 miles). I left about 1300, after a nice lunch at Golden Corral. I drove to Newberry Springs, CA where my 11-hours for the day expired.

Sunday was a bad day. It started out well enough. I received a PrePlan which picked up in Oxnard, CA and delivered in McCarran, NV. I drove to Fontana and fueled. From there, I drove to Oxnard. Here is where the “bad day” began. As I was backing in to the spot to drop my empty trailer with the doors open, the retaining chain became unsecured from the right door and I hit the trailer next to mine and ripped the door off of my trailer. After about an hour of paperwork, I had to give up the load and take my trailer to our yard in Mira Loma and drop it. That ended my day.

Today, Monday, the 22nd, will hopefully go better. I just received a load to Bloomington, MN (a bit over 1800 miles). It’s ready now, so as soon as I finish this, I’ll go pick it up.

Life Day 22345: Quixotic in Quartzsite

My stay in Sumner became a “semi-saga” of sorts. I showed up at the customer in Puyallup at 0845. Upon checking with Security I discovered that there were no loads for Swift there. I informed my DM who contacted the CSR. About an hour later, I was directed to a customer in Sumner (where the load was actually supposed to pick up). I drove there and checked in with the shipping clerk. I was immediately assigned a dock and positioned my equipment. Six hours later, I was finally loaded. At one point they were actually removing product from my trailer??? By the time I departed the customer, what with all the delays this morning, I had only 6 hours remaining on my 14 hours for the day. This, naturally, placed me right in the middle of the afternoon ‘rush hour’. I drove to the Pioneer Villa truck stop in Halsey, OR and called it a day. I still had an hour left to drive, but there is no place within an hours drive south of Halsey on I-5 that I would rather have been. I exercised the MMM, then went into the bar for dinner (you can still, but not for much longer, smoke in bars in Oregon). I had the Politically Incorrect, but ever so YUMMY, home made Breaded Veal Cutlets. While I was dining, I watched Hurricane Ike slam into Galveston. The response by the Government seemed much better than the Katrina fiasco 3 years ago.

On Saturday, the 13th, I drove from Halsey to our terminal in Lathrop, stopping twice. The first stop was the Randolf Collier Rest Area, a well kept facility just across the California/Oregon border on I-5 at exit 786, half way between Hilt, CA and Yreka, CA. 

It is immense, with lots of shade and lots of parking.

The Klamath River parallels it to the west.

A great place for a picnic. These birds seem to agree.

My second stop was at our terminal in Willows, CA for a quick fuel stop.

On Sunday, the first order of business was a shower and laundry. I was in “wash or buy” status. I left the terminal about noon, but didn’t get too far. Pea Soup Andersons looms a mere hour away from Lathrop. I naturally had to stop to eat. I dined al fresco on the patio where I could smoke. I had the patio to myself and enjoyed a leisurely, delicious standard Sausage Patty and Eggs breakfast with hot tea of course. My intention was to buy some Pea Soup ‘to go’ and enjoy it later, but I opted for buying a couple of cans of their soup instead. I hope it is as good as the “fresh”. I have a nice Chicken Ceasar Salad that will make an excellent dinner tonight accompanied by a can of Andersons Split Pea Soup. Anyway, from there I drove to Wheeler Ridge, CA. I like to stop here to make sure all my ‘ducks are in a row’ before I cross the infamous truck weigh station there. From Wheeler Ridge, I drove to Coachella, CA for a quick MMM break. I then drove here to Quartzsite, AZ where I ran out of hours for the day.

Today, I’ll finish this trip to Phoenix. I can’t leave here until noon, but I should be at the customer by 1400. By the time I get to Phoenix (isn’t that an old Glen Campbell song), I will only have about 3 hours remaining to work today, so I don’t expect to do much after I deliver the load.

Life Day 22341: Stoic in Sumner, WA

My home time was mostly “doggie” oriented. The first order of business was Wolfie’s limp. I took him to the Vet early (by my standards) on Saturday the 6th. The doctor couldn’t find (as me) any obvious wound or injury. He ordered some X-rays. Wolfie, being Wolfie, wouldn’t cooperate so they finally had to sedate him. This left Walter and I with the afternoon free. We had some ‘quality time’ together, but just relaxed in the parking lot. I did some shopping at the Wally World next door. Wolfie was ready about 1700. The Vet gave me two prescriptions and explained what he had found. Silly Wolfie somehow managed to basically ‘wrench’ his knee. He had some ’soft tissue’ damage. One of the prescriptions was for a pain killer, the other an anti-inflamatory drug. Sunday, I took them both in for grooming.

On Monday the 8th, I was ready to go by noon. The Planner gave me back the load that I had dropped on Friday. Weekend night shift in Phoenix strikes again. They didn’t do my T-call. Anyway, that load was scheduled to deliver the next day at 0800 in Vernon, CA (at least that is what the Dispatch said). I drove to Vernon, and spent the night on the street in front of the Customer.

At 0800 on Tuesday, I checked in with Receiving. The clerk said that my appointment was for yesterday (Monday) at 0800 and would have to be re-scheduled. I was then told to take the load to our terminal in Wilmington and T-call it there. This, naturally, left me without an empty trailer. This is basically our “shipping container” yard, but I did a quick check of all the “dry van” trailers just to confirm that there were no empties, and was proven correct. The Planner gave me a nice load to Tukwila, WA, but it required an empty trailer to ’swap’ for the loaded one. Four hours later, they finally found me an empty at a customer “in the bowels” of downtown LA, and right at the beginning of “rush hour” traffic. HOW NICE!!! It took more than an hour to travel the 28 miles from Wilmington to the customer. After I had hooked to the empty, got dispatched on the load, got directions to the Shipper, and did all my paperwork (about another hour in total), it took another 45 minutes to drive the 18 miles to the Shipper in Compton. By the time I did the drop/hook, the ’safety check’, the “L-call, the paperwork, and walked the K9 kids, it was 1830. ‘Rush hour’ had somewhat subsided by this time, but traffic was still heavy all the way to Magic Mountain in Castaic. I started salivating once I figured out that I had just enough hours remaining on my 14-hour clock to make it to Harris Ranch. Mmmmmm. Chicken Fried Steak!!! Of course, I arrived 15 minutes AFTER the restaurant closed.

I did finally get my C.F.S. on Wednesday, the 10th, before I left. After doing my calculations, I figured out that with all of yesterday’s delays, I wouldn’t be able to deliver the load until about 1500 today (the 11th). The scheduled appointment was for 1200. The CSR said that it was no big deal as long as I got it there sometime in the afternoon of the 11th. Anyway, I drove to Canyonville (Seven Feathers), OR where my 11 hours for the day ended.

Today, the 11th, I drove to the consignee in Tukwila, arriving almost exactly at 1500 (my predicted/revised arrival time). I did the drop/hook delivery and since I had no PrePlan as yet decided to have myself routed to our terminal in Sumner, WA for fuel. En route I did receive a Plan going from Puyallup, WA to Phoenix, AZ which I gleefully accepted. It picks up tomorrow as a ‘live load’ at 0900, so tonight I’m just hanging out with the MMM and ‘geeking’.

Wolfie is getting better every day.

I have no comments on the 7th anniversary of 9/11 except to note that the NBC (No Barak Criticism) Network made no mention of it in it’s programming this morning. All of the other Networks DID!!!

Life Day 22334: Overwrought in Ogden

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.