The bang was so big it needed 2 posts.
So after my trip I get a load from Muskogee to Springfield, MO.
Problem 1: This was supposed to be a 188 mile drop and hook. Easy breezy right? Nope. I get to the shipper and all I have to do is give a pick up # and grab the trailer they tell me. BUT apparently the shipper person has a two hour lunch break. So I wait and wait and finally about 2pm I am on my way. I fight to slide the tandems, weigh and fuel and my eta for Springfield in 1700.
Problem 2: My next load assignment was to be picked up at 1600. It was a Macon, GA load which usually leaves very little extra time and I would be an hour down already.
Problem 3: Due to the time crunch I have been eating fast food crap instead of fresh food due to me not making it to Wally world. I pick up the macon load and get all the way to Charleston, MO.
Problem 4: Pilot Travel Plazas are run by idiots. My fuel stop was in Murfreesburo, TN which only has two lanes of the special diesel my nice new truck needs. The brilliant minds at Pilot made them the first two islands and the way the place is laid out anyone waiting for ULSD blocks the trucks that need just regular diesel (LSD). I get stuck in a line to fuel that takes me 45 minutes to get through.
Problem 5: Chattanooga residents have some driving issues. An hour to go through the middle of town due to a minor fender bender on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY DUE TO RUBBERNECKERS was ridiculous.
Problem 6: Incoming weather. I delivered my load an hour and a half late and sat at a hole in the wall convenience store wondering what I was gonna get tomorrow. Atlanta was having snow in the forecast. I figured I had until 3pm the next day to get out before the crap hits the fan. Knowing that Atlanta drivers weren't gonna handle snow too well. I went to bed not feeling too good about the next day.
Problem 7: Foxboro, MA. Why is this a problem? It was my next load. Somewhere in this blog page I posted about a trip where I get hassled by a rentacop the last time I did this run.
I pick up the load with no issues and watched the weather radar on my phone. I was in a race to get through Atlanta before the storm hits. I stay ahead of the storm until I get to Greenville, VA.
Problem 8: Remember problem 4 about Pilot Travel Centers? It becomes an issue again at the Pilot in Greenville, VA. Another 45 minutes shot to hell.
I drive another hour by this time I was in the snow and stopped at a surprisingly empty rest area.
Another day of driving and at sometimes feeling like an ice road trucker and I get 15 miles of where I needed.
Problem 9: This is a saturday delivery so I get to spend 2 days in a crap hole truckstop. At least I had football to keep me company. But I am still eating crap.
Problem 10: Today I put in for layover pay. And I get a bullcrap corporate excuse that I am not getting it. So this week is off to a good start.
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4 comments:
Quit your whining truck driver!! Glad to know I aint the only one. Did you read my first weeks adventure back out on the road...Yeah, it is a 2 part/2 week fiasco....I guess you have left the area..I am on 495 in Mass RIGHT NOW..Well, not right now, it would be too hard to drive and blog at the same time..Where ya heading too??
The crappy hole truckstop and then not getting paid for it sounds like the worst part of the whole ordeal.
I loved your description of feeling like an ice-trucker.
Though colorful and fun to read, I do feel for you, bro. Happy New Year, huh?
agree about the Pilot's being run by idiots....N. Little Rock Pilot had the same issue with the ULSD, pumps were the 1st 2 closest to the bldg for over a year (since changed to the opposite thank gawd!!). So I was always on the cb trying to explain to people why I was waiting for THOSE pumps, lol.
Gabs I have been long wanting to send pictures of what 18 wheelers look like to the higher ups at Pilot.
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