These kinda days just wear me out. I don't think I got much of a nap last evening. Maybe a light dozing off and on. I had my alarm set for 10:30 PM and I think I just started going into a deep sleep around 10:15! Figures :(
So I get up and go check in with Sears again and they have my trailer ready. I hook up and go around 11:30 PM. Fortunately from Romeoville, IL to my delivery in Bloomington, IL is about 106 miles! I get to the other Sears warehouse at 1:30 AM. I think it was around 3AM when he finished unloading me, so I pull over to the end of the building out of the way, crawl into bed and crash. I had my next load assignment already, but I didn't have to pick it up until 2PM.
I think I awoke again about 7AM. Drove a couple of miles to a Pilot Travel Center and got a shower. Boy that was much needed and felt good! Then across the street to the T/A for some breakfast. Three eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, wheat toast, orange juice, and sweet tea.
At 9:45, I'm back in my truck and headed down the highway to St. Elmo, IL. I arrived there at 12:30 PM and by 2:00 I'm loaded and rolling again. My first stop is just a few miles down the road in Effingham. That's the nearest truck stop with a CAT Scale. I have 43,000 of carrot cake and brownie mix and need to make sure I have the trailer balanced out correctly.
Continuing south, I make a stop in Ina, IL to have dinner at a McDonald's. Finally, I come to a stop at 6:15 PM in Paducah, KY. I'm tired. And from here to my delivery in Atlanta is only 398 miles. That should give me plenty of time to get a good nights rest tonight and make my 4PM delivery time. That should also get my body clock back on track again!
That's it for now. See ya tomorrow.
So I get up and go check in with Sears again and they have my trailer ready. I hook up and go around 11:30 PM. Fortunately from Romeoville, IL to my delivery in Bloomington, IL is about 106 miles! I get to the other Sears warehouse at 1:30 AM. I think it was around 3AM when he finished unloading me, so I pull over to the end of the building out of the way, crawl into bed and crash. I had my next load assignment already, but I didn't have to pick it up until 2PM.
I think I awoke again about 7AM. Drove a couple of miles to a Pilot Travel Center and got a shower. Boy that was much needed and felt good! Then across the street to the T/A for some breakfast. Three eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, wheat toast, orange juice, and sweet tea.
At 9:45, I'm back in my truck and headed down the highway to St. Elmo, IL. I arrived there at 12:30 PM and by 2:00 I'm loaded and rolling again. My first stop is just a few miles down the road in Effingham. That's the nearest truck stop with a CAT Scale. I have 43,000 of carrot cake and brownie mix and need to make sure I have the trailer balanced out correctly.
Continuing south, I make a stop in Ina, IL to have dinner at a McDonald's. Finally, I come to a stop at 6:15 PM in Paducah, KY. I'm tired. And from here to my delivery in Atlanta is only 398 miles. That should give me plenty of time to get a good nights rest tonight and make my 4PM delivery time. That should also get my body clock back on track again!
That's it for now. See ya tomorrow.
Mark,
ReplyDeleteA couple of questions...your next load assignment...the cake mix...you mentioned you had the assignment...in this case, does that mean you show up with an empty trailer and they do a live load? I assume yes since you were there for 1.5 hours.
With regard to the scales...does the driver have to pay for the use of the scale?
If the load is not properly balanced, can you slide your tandems with the use of chocks or is there another, easier way to do this?
Do you slide a little and re-weigh? Slide a little more and re-weigh...until you have the weighs on all axles correct?
And final question...seems that this will only work if the "excess" weight is too far forward in the trailer...correct? Doesn't seem that you could slide the tandems out of a weight balance problem if the weight was too heavy at the rear of the trailer.
So, many questions as I get closer and closer to my CDL. Thanks again for your updates.
1) yes, this particular one was a live load.
ReplyDelete2) yes, but we get reimbursed.
3) you slide your tandems by keeping the tandem brakes engaged. If your trailer brakes are not working very good, then you'll need to use a chock or something to help stop the wheels rolling.
4) I don't usually re-weigh it after I adjust unless it's REALLY heavy and close to maximum. Some drivers re-weigh all the time. But I just go by a basic rule that each slot on the trailer is 225-250 lbs. If I have 4k lbs of room and only need to slide 1k, then I won't re-weigh it afterwards.
5) it depends on how it was loaded. You can slide the tandems and on some trucks you can slide the 5th wheel also. But if the weight won't adjust properly, you have to go back to the shipper to have them reload it properly. Therefore you always want to get it weighed as close as possible.
A lot of this stuff you should learn in your CDL class. How's that going by the way?
I am hearing some of this...I'll admit, I am doing some fact-checking too. Sometimes it seems that they embellish.
ReplyDeleteClass is going well. Got the Learners last Friday. Practicing pre-trip inspection mostly. Learning logbooks and HOS focusing on obscure rules (or at least seem a bit obscure until I learn it cold (split sleeper berth, etc.).
Still another week in the classroom then skills pad and on the road training.
Plan to hit recruiting hard next couple of weeks making phone calls, etc. Tough right now being a student with 0 exp.
Werner has offered to accept me into their Team program and, while I was just glad to get a yes at first, as I think about it, I am getting a little cooler on the idea.
Just can't imagine living 24/7 with a filthy guy with bad breath who never showers, alternately sharing the same sleeper berth, and wondering if he's a thief and having to keep my stuff under lock and key constantly.
Sorry for the long post.
I don't know how many is there in your class, but if you're getting along with some others check and see if they'd want to go into a company as a team. Then after you get hired on and drive for a couple of months, you can always split up and go solo. Atleast this way you get hired in faster.
ReplyDelete