Around an hour later I got my next assignment. I was to head down to Millville to make the first of two pickups. Then I would head north to Cranbury for the second, and on to Missouri for a Monday delivery. A 2,800 mile week (plus another handful of northeast miles) behind a 3,500 mile week would be some pretty solid work, so I was happy with the assignment.
The plan summary, which I received around 10:45am, said that the pickup in Millville was scheduled for 9:30am and the Cranbury stop was 2pm. I was dispatched to arrive in Millville at 11:42am (earliest legal arrival time). Given the convoluted route that I had to take, this allowed just enough time for me to get there. I rolled into the customer's location at 11:39am. Then they told me that my appointment was for 3pm. Second time at this shipper, second time this sequence of events has occurred. So I went to their designated waiting area at the end of the street and went back to bed.
When my door was ready, the shipper called my cell phone and woke me up. It was right at 3pm. Head for door number 2. You know, to quote The Briggs - "I wouldn't be so paranoid, if the world wasn't out to get me." Here's what the dock area looked like, for every door other than door 2. Lots of room to work for everyone else.
No big deal, right? Just swing around Swiftie there, straighten it up, and we're all good. Well, here's what the dock area looked like, directly in front of door number 2. The edge of the lot curved toward the building, and they apparently thought that would be a good spot for the excess junk that they had on hand. I guess it isn't clear from the perspective, but that shit on the ground was about twenty-five feet in front of me. No room to adjust anything, so it took absolute perfection to get aligned with the dock while not hitting the green railing things on my right or the truck on my left.
I swear it's a conspiracy.
Anyhow, here's where things took a turn. The dock guy came out and said that CTL was calling to reschedule, since I couldn't make my pickup... as I sat presently at the dock. I told him the little bit of information that I knew about the schedule. He said that the load was originally scheduled for the morning, then switched to 3pm when CTL decided that I would go to Cranbury first. Dunno, dude. They didn't dispatch me to Cranbury first, so it wasn't my issue. I'm a big dumb truck driver, so I just do what I'm told. He said he was going to call them back. About five minutes later, they started loading my trailer.
A while later, the same guy came back out and said that CTL had called back and told them to empty my trailer, since the Cranbury location would be closed until Monday by the time I got there. He was annoyed, for obvious reasons. He mentioned that the stuff was going to the same DC in Missouri, so he didn't see why he had to take the freight off of my trailer. My guess was that CTL didn't want me sitting around all weekend with a half-loaded trailer, waiting for the rest of my load.
So I called CTL to see what was what. My fleet manager was gone, so I got someone else on the phone. She had no idea what I was talking about. Par for the course, I guess. I gave her my hypothesis that, by emptying my trailer, CTL was indicating that someone else would be assigned to the load on Monday. There are people who decide these things, and then there are people who speak to the drivers... well apparently those people don't speak to each other. After a few minutes on hold, I was unassigned from the load and given a new assignment. Every now and then I manage to get one right.
The next load was set to leave Jersey City tomorrow at 4am and head to Davenport, Iowa for Sunday. The upshot is that my 2,800 mile week became a 2,740 mile week (also minus the pay for one extra stop), but I'll be empty a day sooner. I have no beef with that. The dispatch included a trailer number for me to retrieve after I dropped my empty, so I headed straight to the shipper. The instructions said not to pick up early, but usually they only give me a trailer number if the load is ready. I had been to that place once before and it totally sucked, so I was hoping to get in and out after the usual business hours. When I got to the shipper, the lady said that my load would be ready at 9pm. Still better than 4am, I suppose. So I dropped my empty and parked for a little while, then went back for my loaded trailer.
Once I got back on the road, the 14 hour rule was catching up pretty quickly. I spent half the day sleeping, but the FMCSA has different ideas about how to define tired driving. So I had to call it a night. I'll have to put in a long day starting tomorrow morning, take a ten hour break, and finish the run in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Looks like the weather will be pretty messy for the next day or so. Oh well.
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