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 The
truck drive is narrow, only wide enough for one truck at a time and leads
back to the trailer drop area. Once you are in the drive, it is extremely
difficult to get out. If you wanted to back out, you would have to back
out blind onto the state highway. At the end of the drive, which is
approximately 1/8 of a mile or less, there is an electronic gate and an
intercom/speaker phone. The instructions on the intercom say to pick up
the phone, dial a zero and wait. A note posted on the intercom box says
that if no one answers, the guard may be out on rounds and you should try
back every five minutes.
It was bitterly cold this night
and I wasn't long on patience, standing in the freezing cold wind, waiting
for someone, anyone, to answer the speakerphone. I returned to the truck,
half tempted to go to sleep. Heck I was blocking the driveway, eventually
someone would have to deal with me. I tried the intercom every five
minutes a couple more times, but to no avail.
Finally I noticed that the
lights in the guard shack had come on and there was someone inside. I
backed down the drive and went inside. "Oh sorry, that intercom hasn't
worked in months." the guard said. As much as I tried, "whatever" wasn't
the word that came to mind.
Finally I pulled the load out
of there and headed to Indianapolis, IN,
where I'd drop it and hand it off to another driver to deliver somewhere
in Virginia. Again, I wished I could have kept it and run it myself, but I
had become some sort of long-distance shag driver so that wasn't to be. I
ran all night and pulled into Indy in the wee hours of the morning on
11/22.
Later that day I was given a
load that would be brought in by another driver in the late afternoon. It
would deliver in Cedar Rapids, IA on 11/23 at
4:00 AM. Considering the time it would come into the yard, the load would
be a straight through deal. I slept a good part of the day, knowing I had
yet another all-nighter on my hands.
11/23 2:30 AM I pulled
into Cedar Rapids and the consignee was deserted. I wandered around the
warehouse for awhile, and eventually found the one sole person working at
this insane time of day and got rid of that load.
An hour or so later and I was
headed to Marshalltown, IA to pick up a load
with multiple drops on it. Knowing the Swift plant at
Marshalltown, IA as I do, I knew it would be
awhile before it would be loaded. They could possibly be the slowest
loading meat plant in the United States, but they have much competition in
that area, as all meat plants basically suck. I pulled into a little
truckstop in Tama, IA not long before the sun
came up and crashed.
After waking I called the plant
and was informed that no, the load was not ready. No surprise there. I
decided to stop in to the casino outside of Tama to blow a few rolls of
nickels (yep, big spender, that's me) and get my stomach full. That ate up
a few hours and finally I had nothing better to do than to go into
Marshalltown. After checking the trailer in and getting it washed out, the
load still wasn't ready. I refused to sit and wait in the area allotted
for drivers and drove to the truckstop. The waiting area at the plant has
a bathroom with a flush toilet and that's it. The phone provided is out of
order and there's no vending. This is actually an improvement over how
this place was years ago. They've made some changes, which are better, but
are still a long shot from decent. My first drop was
Quincy, IL for 5:00 PM the next day. I decided to get a decent
night's sleep and surely the load would be ready in the morning.
11/24 The load was ready
so I went after it and went to Quincy, IL,
arriving an hour or so early. I was glad for that because the place was
slow to unload and very difficult to get into. They had indoor docks, it
was raining and already dark I was the second truck in line. I had called
the receiver for directions and was glad I did because if I had followed
the directions sent through the Qualcomm, I would have come into the place
backwards and would've had to either back blindside into a tight indoor
dock or go around a block that was extremely skinny and steep going up one
side and steep going down the other. I was able to grab a nap of an hour
or so before they came knocking on the door to say I was done. The next
drop was in Chicago, IL at 3:00 AM. I called
the receiver to see if I could come in earlier than that and if there was
secure parking. I was told yes on both.
11/25 1:30 AM I drove
straight through to arrive at Drop #2 early. Another all nighter was in
the works. After an hour's nap or so, they banged on the door and had me
back into a dock. After another nap of an hour or so, they banged on the
door again to say I was done. All the naps in the world aren't worth a
full night's sleep and by this time I was feeling pretty worn out. All I
wanted to do was crash, but I knew that it would be wise to get the heck
outta Chicago before rush hour got into full swing. My next and last drop
was in Muskegon, MI at 10:00 AM. I made it over to the T/A at
Porter, IN and tried to get the fog out of my
head. Again, I had hours, though not many, but I was exhausted and not
thinking straight.
Whoever had set up the
appointments on this load had done a poor job. In hindsight, it was
obvious that the only way to legally run this load was to have picked it
up as soon as it was loaded, which had been around 2:00 AM the previous
morning, and run down to Quincy, IL and get
an eight hour break in. Then I could have run the five or so hours to
Chicago and then run the three or so hours to
Muskegon, IL. By leaving Marshalltown, IA at 9:00 AM instead of
2:00 AM, I could not get an eight hour break in and found myself under a
load that I could not legally do. This was all swirling around my head in
Porter, IN. Just whose fault was this,
anyway? Was it mine because I hadn't thought all of this out? Was it
theirs for scheduling the drops so close?
I called the consignee in
Muskegon and was told they did not have an appointment for me but that
they would accept the load if I could get there by noon. Oh brother, what
now? I qualcommed Dispatch to pass this along. Whatever. I laid down for a
couple hours, leaving only a few minutes of spare time to make Muskegon.
Somehow I made it. After getting empty, I drove a couple of miles down the
road to a convenience store with a large lot and climbed into the bunk for
another nap.
The next load was coming out of
Logansport, IN. The load information on the
Qualcomm said it was a live load and my appointment was at 1:00 AM.
Dispatch assured me that I had to be at the plant at that time in order to
load. I would have preferred to get a full night's sleep and go into the
shipper in the morning, but again, it wasn't to be. I got the trailer
washed out and headed to Logansport, IN.
11/26 12:30 AM I pulled
into the shipper and went inside to check in. The shipping clerk said the
load I'd come to pick up wasn't scheduled to load until morning and that
it would likely take all day because it was an export load. Whatever. I
dropped the trailer there and drove 15 miles to the nearest truckstop. It
was somewhere around 3:00 AM and it was one of the earliest to-bed nights
I'd had all week. I slept like a baby. After waking I had a huge breakfast
and a shower and started to feel like I might be human. The load was ready
by the time I got back to the plant and I headed towards home.
I stopped to weigh the trailer
out at the nearest truckstop. It weighed out okay and I was debating on
whether to take yet another nap when I saw one of my former students walk
by. She and her husband were headed to Chicago to deliver the next day.
She and I had a nice long talk about this, that and the other thing. I've
seen a couple of my former students on the road, but not many. I've always
wondered what happened to them, how they've done and if they've even
stayed in the industry. She said she was doing well and that trucking has
been good for them... I was happy to hear it.
11/26... Late?...I
pulled into the yard in Des Moines vastly relieved the week was done and
that I'd made it home for Thanksgiving. I've missed more Thanksgivings
than I've made home, so they are particularly special to me.
I spoke with my Fleet Manager
at the end of this week and complained about running so many short
all-nighters. I asked if she would please see about getting me some longer
runs, as the short ones are so tiring. As a salaried driver, I know I
can't run exactly what I want to, but there has to be room for
improvement. My miles have really stunk over the past few months but my
partner's have been good. I keep track of these things. I pointed out to
her that it didn't seem quite right that my partner pulled fewer trips
that were longer in miles, while I pulled short trips but a lot more of
them. |
