STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22397: Motionless in Malvern

November 6, 2008 on 11:03 pm | In On The Road |

When was the last time that I updated my travels on this BLOG?

Oh yeah, the 19th of October. I wound up doing a Walmart load, an “overnighter” to St. George, on the promise of another Walmart load to Vegas on my return for a few days off. Freight in SLC was slow as has been the ‘norm’ lately. I did both loads arriving home late on the 21st.

I returned to Corinne on the 24th and got a PrePlan for a load from Ogden to Clackamas, Wilsonville and Salem, OR for pick up on the 25th. I just slept in Corinne after I exchanged the empty Walmart trailer for a Swift empty.

On the 25th, I picked up the load in Ogden and drove to Boise, ID where I stopped for the night. The next day, I drove to the first stop in Clackamas and spent the night there. It is getting a little late in the season to be traveling in this area, but the weather forecast was good.

On the 27th, I finished the load and picked up another load from Albany, OR to Rowley, UT. Rowley is not really a town, but a Magnesium mine out in the hinterlands 50 miles west of Salt Lake City. I drove to Baker, OR and called it a day. The next day, I drove to SLC. I fueled, ate, walked the MMM, then drove out to Rowley and spent the night there.

On the 29th, I delivered the load and accepted another multi-drop load to Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Cypress, CA. I picked it up and drove to Las Vegas. I spent the night there. The next day, just as I was ready to leave about 1100, I got the call about my storage shed being burgled (ref: previous post). When I got back to my truck there was a message on my QualCom stating that the customer(s) would not accept my load (for reasons unknown to me) and to wait for further instructions. I waited and waited, and waited. They were either going to have me return it to the shipper, or find another customer in the LA area. About 1700, I called to find out what was happening. By this time the CSR had gone home and I was told to take the load to our drop facility in North Las Vegas. When I arrived there I was told that I could not drop the load there because the lot was completely full. GREAT!! I drove back to the WWW. I had to park on the street because while I was gone, the lot there had also filled up. GREATER!! I was apprehensive because I had already been victimized once that day, and the WWW isn’t in the greatest location. I spent a restless night and as soon as feasible, I parked in the lot. Around mid morning, on Halloween, I returned to the drop yard in NLV to find it still full. I called my DM and asked what the H___ I was supposed to do now. She just happened to notice a remark in the comments section of the dispatch that the load was scheduled to deliver at a new customer in Redlands, CA at 2330. Had the CSR done his/her job properly, I would have automatically been re-dispatched with the new consignee, but that seems to be too much to ask of CSR’s lately. I went back to the WWW to hang out until it was time to leave for Redlands. On a brighter note, I collected $46.00 from a Sports Book bet on the World Series, and another $50.00 in the Black Jack tournament. I left about 1800. It turned out that the load was just a drop/hook, so after I was finished, I drove to the Farmer Boy’s restaurant in Fontana and spent the night there.

On Nov 1st, I received a load from Irvine, CA to Cheyenne, WY with a pre-planned T-Call in Salt Lake City due to an extended delivery appointment. I drove to the MMM’s favorite Rest Area in Utah and spent the night there. The next day, I T-Called the load at our terminal and took a local delivery so I would have an empty trailer for my next load.

On the 3rd, I wound up doing a total of 5 local deliveries. I asked for a load to Texas, but all they had was a load in Sumner, WA being picked up by a team and scheduled for T-Call in SLC. I was assured that the team was reliable and would get the load there ASAP. The load was going to Midlothian, TX (20 miles south of Dallas). I did the local deliveries so as to not be idle for the entire day and to make some extra $$$$. When I was finished with the last load about 2130, I was told that the team with my load was in Mountain Home, ID and that it would be there in the AM whenever I was ready to go. I was worried that they would be delayed by the winter storm which was pounding Oregon, but evidently this team lives up to their reputation as reliable.

On the 4th, I left SLC in a moderate rain, trying very hard to turn into snow, about 0930 after a leisurely breakfast at Sapp Brothers truck stop. I drove to Milan, NM and stopped for the night. I encountered a couple of patches of snow along the way, but nothing to really affect anything. Yesterday, I drove to Alvord, TX (about 40 miles north of Ft. Worth on US-287) without incident.

Today, I delivered the load in Midlothian about 1130. I accepted this load to Malvern, AR. It delivers in the tomorrow at 0800.