Everything Is Bigger In Texas & #19

I pulled out of the terminal on Monday night thinking I wouldn't have to go through Texas any time soon. I was heading east to South Carolina anticipating where I would go from there. Up to the northeast? Down to Florida? I dropped off my load of roofing rubber, the kind they use for flat top commercial buildings, on Wednesday and already had a load going back to Little Rock, Arkansas on my Qual Comm before I finished unloading. This made me worried. I was going back into the Bermuda Triangle again.

I wasn't too worried though. They fixed everything didn't they? Still I had that nagging doubt. Would I get sucked in again and be stuck for three or four more days?

I drove up to Greer, SC to pick up my load and started making my way toward Little Rock.

I have an awesome dispatcher who is always looking two or three moves ahead, and while I was still two days out from my destination, she sent me a load going from Arkansas to Tennessee. The opposite direction of the Bermuda triangle.

I've been playing catch up all week. Since my truck was in the shop so long, it put me about 10 hours behind on all my pick ups and deliveries this week. Try as I may, I just wasn't able to gain any ground. There are so many variables you have no control over; weather, traffic, accidents, shippers and receivers not being ready when you arrive. I had them all and them some.

Unfortunately I wasn't going to be able to take this one. The pick up time was scheduled for two hours before the delivery time of the run I was currently on. Normally this wouldn't be a problem. Having a two day advance warning I would just speed things up a little and see if the receiver would take their load early. Usually they do. Most places I deliver don't care of you're too early, as long as your not late.

I sent my dispatcher a note to inform her that I was still playing catch up and wouldn't be able to make the pick up until the morning after the scheduled appointment time. If the shipper was ok with that, I would gladly accept the run.

She contacted the shipper and they were not at all ok with that. Moving the pick up time back inadvertently moves the delivery time back as well, and the promises they made to the receiver to have the product there by a certain time are broken.
So another driver was put on the run and there I am again sailing straight into the Triangle of Uncertainty with nothing waiting for me when I get there.

Driving like some crazed maniac, I arrived at my receiver for my 9:00 am appointment at 4:30 in the afternoon (I told you I was running behind) and just about out of hours. I really didn't want to run out of hours before getting there, so I skipped the usual breaks and drove straight through. Darn good thing I did too. They close at 4:30! Since I was there, they decided to unload me even though it was quittin' time. You could tell they wanted to go home though. They attacked my trailer with three forklifts and unloaded me in under five minutes. This has to be some kind of new record.

By the time we counted the load and had all the paperwork taken care of, it was past five and, you guessed it - the load planners have left the building. No load planners, no load and almost no hope until Monday. Unless you have something preplanned, which I did, then I didn't, getting booked on a load over the weekend is rare.

I limped over to the nearest truck stop and was pleasantly surprised to find a boat load of parking still available. I sent a message to night dispatch to let them know when I would be getting back some hours just to see if they knew I was out here. Sometimes when you complete a run right at the shift change between day and night dispatch, you fall through the cracks and can sit there until Monday, so I always like to make sure they know I'm out here, without a load, wishing I had one.

Their reply; Sorry. Nothing on the board for now. Check back after 8:00 in the morning. In other words... after they get off. So it was starting to look like a long weekend sitting in a truckstop.

The next morning came and went, and no load. As before I sent a little reminder that I'm out here. The squeaky wheel gets the grease you know. Beep! Oh look a load! That was supposed to pick up yesterday. Hmmm. I wonder why night dispatch couldn't find this last night. Oh well at least I'm not going to sit here all weekend long.

So I'm off. Off to California that is. Just in time for my scheduled home time too. Well almost. I deliver the same day I'm scheduled to be home but, I'll be over 600 miles away so, doesn't look like I'll actually make it home that day.

Well it's time to put Texas and some miles behind me today. As they say, everything is bigger in Texas, including the roads.

Oh and bird number 19 committed suicide today. Guess he couldn't read!