Road Warrior

It's been way too long since my update. Lots of going's on:

Since my last post I have been to some of my "usual" hang-outs. Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Nothing real spectacular until last week.

Last week was, in a word, A-W-F-U-L!!!

To begin the week, I had a call from my Safety Department. They were less than happy with me. At the end of the previous week, I had violated my Hours of Service. I was in Chicago, IL at the rail yard making a pick up. First thing, trying to find the crazy place was nearly impossible and I lost a lot of time there. Next, when I got to the yard, the trailer I was looking for was one from our sister company. I have had the experience previously on wrong trailers. Had to call into dispatch and get approval to make the pick up. The previous time, I had to take the trailer to the dock and have the company move it to a USX trailer. Since this circumstance didn't allow for the shipper to change the trailer - shipper was in Mexico City, Mexico - so a change of trailer was impossible. While dispatch and customer service took their sweet time, the clock was ticking for me. I waited and waited and called them and told them my hours were nearly up and that they may need to get someone else to finish this load as I needed to get somewhere to shut down for my mandatory 10 hour break. They asked me to "hold tight" that they would have an answer very soon. In the meantime, I talked to the people at the Rail Yard and told them my predicament and asked if I could stay 10 hours at their facility. They said NO. Didn't even give it a thought. Guess this question had been asked before. I got back with dispatch and told them I had 30 minutes left and the yard would not allow me to park for my break. They said they would get me an answer in just a couple minutes. I figured 30 minutes would give me the time to get out of there and to someplace safe. Well - of course this didn't happen. My time expired while I waited. There was no way, no how that I was going to pull out of there and stay in downtown Chicago. Nope, not this gal. USX has a terminal in Markham, IL - which was only 16 miles from the rail yard. I took off for there. By the time I got there, I was 56 minutes over on my hours. I knew I was toast!!! I called into Safety and told them the situation. I figured it was better to be up front than to wait for them to find the violation. The guy I spoke with was understanding and agreed that I did the right thing. WHEW - made it through that - or so I thought. On Monday morning - Cruella De Vil came to work. She called me and let me have it. Told me I was a "poor planner" and that I should not have allowed dispatch to make my decisions. I just listened. There was nothing to be done, and no excuse would satisfy her so I just took her wrath. She said I was getting a written warning which would become a part of my permanent file. OK - what else can I say?

On Tuesday - I was making a pick up in Tipp City OH. Everything was going just fine and then all of a sudden WHAM!!! A concrete barrier pole jumped out and hit the right front fender of my truck. OH S_ _ t!!!!! Of course, the plant had just had a shift change and the entire first shift employees were in the parking lot and saw the incident. I immediately went inside and told my customer. She came out and said she wasn't going to report it as there was no real damage to their property. I told her about all the witnesses and she knew she had to report it to save her hide. I picked up the phone and called my Safety Department to report the incident. They transferred me to claims and it went on and on and on. I took pictures of the damage and sent to them. Will have to wait and see what will become of this.

If I remember correctly, Wednesday and Thursday were major trouble free. :-)

Here comes Friday! I'm in Richmond VA and just backed up to a dock. Just waiting for them to finish unloading my trailer. The customer comes out and tells me I am still several inches from the dock and need to back further. I am tight with something but he says there is a mechanism that has to be pushed in to allow the plate to drop into the trailer. So I give it some fuel and - nothing - he says "you're going to have to give it more than that". So I do. WHAM!! He says - "perfect". When they are finished, I pull away and come around to close the doors. I have to beat a path to Suffolk VA for my next pick up. As I close the doors, I notice my DOT bumper is pushed in at the center and the weld on the left side is broken. OH PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While I am driving, I am on the phone with my, by now, buddy in claims. He takes down all the information and says he will pass it on to Safety. Do you see a pattern here??? I then talk to our Breakdown Dept and they redirect me to Chesapeake VA to take the trailer to a repair shop and pick up a recently repaired trailer. Now remember, it is Friday afternoon and I am on my way to the coast. Me and 10,000 of my closest friends are on the highway. Every couple of minutes, I get a message from customer service asking how much longer it will take me to get to Suffolk for the pick up. Oh brother.....will this crazy week ever end???? Breakdown reminds me that had I continued with the damaged trailer, DOT could have spotted it and taken me out of service until it was repaired. WOW, I sure didn't need that. I get to Chesapeake and trade out the trailer. Off I go to Suffolk. By now the customer is mad, customer service is mad and I am..............running out of hours!!!! HA HA HA!!! Finally get to the customer and get loaded. I ask if I can stay on their premises overnight. There is nothing closer than 25 miles that I could park. They said SURE! YEAH!!!!! So I stay in the dock area of this customer until my 10 hours are up. This is finally my weekend to go home. All I need to do is get this trailer to another USX driver which is waiting for me in Troutman, NC. My 10 are up at 4AM. It is over 300 miles to Troutman. I just want to get home.

Finally, finally I meet the driver and am on my way home. I've been having some problems with the truck and want to leave it at the shop in Lexington. Randy agreed to pick me up so I called him when I was nearly there. Dropped it off and HOME SWEET HOME!!!

I look through all the mail that has arrived since I left 3 weeks ago. Guess what is there - my written warning!!!!! My life is complete!!! HA HA

Home is great and it is wonderful to have some down time. I had planned to go back out on Monday but the truck was not going to be ready until Wednesday. So, Wednesday I get my truck back, drive it home and set the brakes...........oops, the darn knob comes off in my hand. Can't set the brake without a knob to pull. Great, it's going to be another one of THOSE weeks. I turn around and head back to the shop where they finally do get me fixed. The shop also fixed my damaged area on the front bumper from Tipp City. I am ready to go now! I get home, park the truck and call my Fleet Manager. He says I need to go on line and complete a course in Backing and Docking. HA HA, not sure which incident sparked this or if both did. I get it done and finally get a load.

Up to current - Friday 8/13 I have to pick up in Laurel Hill NC. I get to Dunn NC and need to shut down due to hours. I pull into a large truck stop which is about 70 miles from my customer and the closest place to go. There is something gnawing at me. I don't feel comfortable in this place. I discount it as I am just tired. I close everything up and fall to sleep immediately. Seems like no time and BANG BANG BANG!!! Someone is frantically knocking on my drivers door. I have no clue and peak out the window. A woman is standing there. Holy Cow!! A "LADY OF THE EVENING"!!! I have been told to be on the lookout for these gals but had yet to see any. She told me she had run out of gas and just needed a couple of dollars. Gimme a break - is this code???? I tell her I have nothing and close my drape. I believe this was my instinct.

And thus is the life of a Road Warrior!! HA HA....until next time............keeping it between the lines - and AWAY FROM POLES! :-)