10/8/07

My relay truck came rolling own the aisle at about 4:15. He asked if I wanted him to put the empty in a slot next to me or just drop it on the aisle. I told him I was going to bed after we made the switch, so he put it in the slot. The guy made a wacky maneuver and backed the thing around 135 degrees against the grain. Picure it this way. I'm pointed 45 degrees to the right of perpendicular. He was coming from my right. Instead of turning around and doing a 45 degree back into the hole, he just backed it all the way around, against the grain, and jackknifed it in there. He's either really good or really crazy. I suspect both. Anyhow, he got rolling and I went to bed.

I have learned to take things that other drivers say with a block, not just a grain, of salt. That being said, try this one on for size. He said he has been highlighted for West Memphis for eight days, and has been sitting here for two days (remember "that driver is 21 miles out?" Hmm...). According to my understanding of the hometime policy, he should have been deadheaded to West Memphis, with pay, two days ago. Either he was embellishing his story or somebody at CFI screwed him over. There is no way he should be sitting here for two days waiting for a load to West Memphis. As it stands, he was taking the load from here to West Memphis for his home time and someone else has to pull it to Texas from there.

I got an assignment this morning, taking a relay from here to the Pilot in East St. Louis, then passing it off to another driver. With all of the team drivers getting lower miles, I wonder what is the story with us solos taking so many relays. I'm not complaining about my end of the deal. Miles are miles as far as I'm concerned. I just wonder why a team wasn't put on the run to take it straight through. The load I'll be getting is another UPS run, sent from QVC. Same deal as the one I brought here. I usually do okay getting freight out of the St. Louis area, so I hope to keep my good month going. The only downside is that I've fallen back into this overnight trap again. By the time I drop at 7am tomorrow, my hours for the shift will be running low. If I don't get something within 100 miles or so from there pretty quickly, I'll have to take a ten hour break. Then it will be evening and most of the 'normal' freight will already be assigned and I'll be looking at either sitting until Wednesday or getting another overnight run. There's a brewery in East St. Louis that sends overnight stuff to Kansas. It won't surprise me if I get one of those runs.

It seems that, for the last month or so, 90% of my runs were ordered by Wal Mart, UPS, or ConWay. I guess, in a time when the pundits say freight is slow, it's a good thing we have some really steady customers. Miles=money, so I will hopefully just keep on rolling.

The day of sitting in Virginia has turned out to be a good thing vis a vis my logbook. I was getting up against my 70, so by essentially taking Saturday off I got enough hours back to keep me moving. I only pick up five hours tomorrow, then five the next day, so by the time I run the 500 miles to ESL I'll be back in the low hours end of the pool.