STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life day 22480: Farewell to Fontana

January 28, 2009 on 2:56 pm | In On The Road, Homefront |

Not much has happened since I left Las Vegas. It has been a frustrating couple of days, but I think that I’ll finally be leaving here tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Now, on with the chronicle of my recent adventures.

Sunday, the 25th: Today, I just relaxed and geeked on the computer all day. I needed to recover from my relaxing day in the sun yesterday. I started the post about my “Quartzsite Quickie” yesterday, but ran out of time before I could finish. I had trouble with the ‘HTML’ editor on WordPress, or more accurately Microsoft Word and WordPress colliding. I gave up and went to bed about 1900. After all, 0400 comes early at my age.

Monday, the 26th: I awoke at 0300, exercised the MMM, did my toilette, and then drove to the Shipper in Henderson. It took about 2 hours to be loaded. I left at 0600 and drove to the Consignee in Fontana, stopping once at a Rest Area for the MMM. I was unloaded in a timely manner, as soon as I arrived. When finished, I drove the odd mile to Cowboys Burger and BBQ for lunch. They have no website that I can find, but they are similar to Farmer Boys. I had pretty good Sourdough Bacon Cheese Burger with Fries and a bowl of Chili. After lunch, I drove to our terminal in Fontana where I fueled, then settled in to wait for my next load. It turned out to be a long wait. I received no PrePlan for the rest of the day. While I was waiting, I tackled the pesky “post” again. I discovered that WordPress didn’t like the way Microsoft Word converts (I/2) to a reduced size text, because it adds about a bazillion lines of gibberish to the ‘HTML’ text. I guess it is OK as long as you aren’t using the ‘HTML’ to post pictures. Once I solved that problem by changing to the narrative (half), things went well and I finally finished the Post. I continued geeking until I went to bed about 2300.

Tuesday the 27th: I awoke about 0700 with a PrePlan on my QualCom. It was a weird one. It was a “stage” load. I have never heard of a “stage” load before, but here is how it works, at least in theory. The driver (me) drives to the Shipper (in Carson, CA for this load) at a prescribed time (1600 for this load). He then checks in with the Shipping Clerk. Then he (me) waits for a prescribed period of time (until 2000 in this case). If there are no “extra” loads coming from that customer, he (me) checks out with the Shipping Clerk and sends a QualCom message stating that there were no extra loads. The Planner is then supposed to re-set his (my) PTA back to where it was originally so he (me) doesn’t lose his (my) place in line. For all of this rigmarole, the driver is to receive $100.00 if there is no load. At any rate, there was no load, so I did the above. I first drove to our terminal in Wilmington (the closest ’safe haven’ to the customer in Carson). The lot was full, so I drove back to our terminal in Fontana where I was fortunate enough to secure the last available parking spot. I went to bed as soon as I arrived (after walking the MMM of course).

Wednesday, the 28th: This morning, once again, I awoke with a PrePlan on my QualCom. This one picked up in Walnut, CA and delivered in Hazelton, PA. Thinking that my day was planned, I took a cold shower at our terminal. When I returned to my truck, I discovered that my load had been canceled. Seems it was actually scheduled to be shipped by rail. DRAT, that was a good one. About an hour later, I received a second PrePlan. This one picks up tomorrow morning at 0500 in Van Nuys, CA and delivers in Laredo, TX. After I accepted it, I decided to leave the terminal and drive to the above mentioned Farmer Boys to wait there and have breakfast in the process. As I was doing my Pre-Trip inspection, I noticed a flat tire on my trailer. Delays, delays, delays. It took about an hour to track down the mechanic (who was doing trailer inspections in the yard) and have the tire changed. Evidently, sometime in yesterday’s goings about, I managed to find a huge bolt with my right rear trailer tire. Anyway, with that finished, I did actually leave the terminal and drive here to Farmer Boys, where I’ll stay until early tomorrow AM. That is unless this load is canceled too. I’ll know tomorrow morning.