Oct 25, 2009

      saturday in lathrop

      here we sit in lathrop, (stockton)

      fresno is about 2 hrs south of lathrop, but the swift yard is in lathrop.

      we arrived saturday morning, and to our surprise there is not a single empty trailer to be found. the swift powers that be told us we didnt really need an empty until sunday, so just wait and keep looking. i told them we were going to wait at a hotel. so we could watch the beavers ~trojans play

      the last saturday we were in lathrop and i wanted to watch the beavers game. they were watching one of the james bond movies, after that it was lethal weapon #118 i think.  im telling you there is something  abhorrently wrong when a room full of guys and the only woman is the only one that wants to watch college football.

      even thou the beavers lost it was a good game. a few missed opportunity's, of cause as always a few bad calls by the ref's, but oh so close to upsetting the trjoans at their home.   next time beavs, next time.

      we had been on a dedicated run from fresno to kent  to fresno.  fedex up and target load   south. but the last 3 trips have been fresno to spokane to fresno. still fedex load up, but paper rolls south. yuck. heavy, usually at least 45,000 lbs. that makes my shifting harder, and makes us slower. there is usually 6 or 8 rolls in the trailer.  it makes the trailer top heavy too.  not sure why we were bumped off the kent run, but the rumor is the owner/operators got wind of  this dedicated run and took it. they have to pay their own fuel so of course they would not opt for the fresno to spokane run because the return trip is so heavy. 

       dedicated runs are hard to get and if we can keep this one we'll be fine. its still a good deal. there is no waiting for dock time. there is no loading or unloading. there is no waiting to get loaded, ready at 4am usually sooner. and on the monday 4 am runs we can usually pick up sunday afternoon or evening and that gives up even more time to get there. a much nicer drive. the trip time given to us is 24 hours. and we have been doing it in 18 or 19 hours. however it is SO FRUSTRATING when we deliver and put in our empty call, we dont get our reload until 11 am or noon. that is 7 hours we could have been driving.

      it doesnt seem that hard to give us our reload, its always the same. we know that, just give us the pick up number so we can go get it and head south. UGH!!

      its just about time to check out. time to head back to the swift yard. time to play swift equivalent of wheres waldo, and start looking for an empty trailer,(they all look the same until you open the back and see if they are loaded or empty) when after a few hours everyone will agree there is no empty trailer anywhere in lathrop or stockton. and they will send us to fresno to continue our search. 

time to return to tuff guy tv. time to return to our 3 sq ft living space. time to return to our small twin beds.  time to return to mixed fruit cups, peanutbutter sandwiches, and hot water for tea from truckstop bathrooms. aww life is good.

      i love and miss you all,

      drive careful