Mar 17, 2010
on the streets of laredo
we seem to be getting a little more miles now. unfortunately we thought we would get better south bounds loads staying on the fedex, fresno to seattle run. we didnt know that oregon charges .14 cents per mile when big trucks run on oregon roads. we have to keep track of every mile. the fresno to seattle run cost us $53. so we told our dispatcher that unless swift was going to kick down that money to us we could not afford to do the fedex runs through oregon. that was kind of a bummer.
the point is that we all know swift quoted a price to haul freight from point a to point b and if it goes through oregon they have added that road tax into the cost of moving that freight, so i told our driver manager since swift is charging for the road tax , they can just pay the road tax and have a company driver drive through oregon. she agreed. she said they have a big problem getting owner/op drivers to take loads into oregon . so we probably will only do that when we go home.
we picked up a load in north bend, washington going to laredo texas. we picked it up at nintendo of america. there was a lot of security on this load. it was video taped while being loaded. there were two seals put on the trailer doors, along with our pad lock. the pick up instructions said we had to drive 200 miles before stopping. if we did not have the hours, do not accept this load. if we needed fuel , fuel before picking up load. one of the team drivers had to be with the load at all times. the security guard escorted us to the trailer, watched us hook up, then made sure we found the gate. we had to send a message every time we stopped. when we get to laredo we had to have the trailer inspected before delivering. also we were instructed not to speak to anyone concerning the contents of this load. (wish i would have seen those instructions before i texted everyone) so keep that just between us ok. at port of entry's and weight stations we can just show them the load papers, usually we tell them and 'its paper rolls' 'its for target', so this time we can not say ' its nintendo wii and games, yahoo, lets start the bidding' that would be against the rules.
as fate would have it we lost one of the trailer breaks. the air canister was leaking. so will drove carefully, and we made it 200 miles, then called break down and got the canister fixed.
another funny twist of fate had me driving in texas. not a good plan. i dont know why directions dont work when i read them. i was suppose to turn on farm road 179 (i think) and when i did i kept following it not seeing my next turn any where. then the road was going to turn into a hospital, so i turned and had to wake up
will..........here we go again......... but the problem was there is a lot of construction around here. and our gps was having problems too. i read the directions, the directions are in english, i can understand most english, i can read the road signs, i see the sign says with an arrow, turn here. and some how it never works out the way it should. i just dont know why i get so lost. even after will woke up and within 15 minutes we were headed the right direction, i told will it feels like we are driving the same way we just came from. and he says, no now we are headed south. we came from the east.....
did you know that wylan jennings home town in littleton, tx, we drove right through it. good place to be from.
delivering this load was an adventure too. our gps keep saying 'you have reached your destination.' it was an empty field. three times. called them, no answer. called our dispatch, they called the company, no answer. (duh we had the same phone number) anyway it turns out they are a little warehouse behind the la quenta hotel. so finally we made our delivery, and can start our 34 hours off.
we are staying 3 miles from the mexico boarder. so off for a little shopping. i got 2 water bottle size of vanilla for $2. one in dark vanilla and one in clear vanilla. what a deal. we could see the mexican flag as we walked down the street. lots of pottery and iron works stores. we found a restaurant advertising
i like the lent special.....
nachos, tacos, and sushi bar. i wish will had a passport we could walk over the boarder and stock up on cheap meds., maybe have plastic surgery, a little liposuction, get matching tattoos, do the whole mexican tourist thing.
well im going to see if we can find an abc tv station because as you know, today is not just tuesday its lostday
adios mi amigos, ( im trying to blend .... in case my freckles dont give me away)
love and miss you all.
