April 4, 2010
happy easter
in one week things have gone from ready to quit to very good miles. that has me thinking, what the heck... is there nothing in between. is it always feast or famine with them.
after taking our 34 hours off in salt lake city we sat there for 3 more days with out a load. they sent us a load that was too heavy for us to haul so we declined it. then they sent us a short 200 mile load . we declined that one because not only was it a short run but it was 2 stops, and it was grocery's on a refer truck.
they send us two loads that were suppose to work together. the first one from salt lake city to colorado, then colorado to los angles. we checked it out and i sent them a message that the first load delivers after the first one picks up. we asked if they could change the delivery time on the first so that it works with the second . they took the first load off of us. we waited thinking they were going to find us another load to get us to colorado. they sent us a message asking us to accept or decline the load. i asked if we were suppose to deadhead to colorado. they're answer was yes. so i told them the empty miles needed to be changed, they were listed as 15 miles, as if we were already in colorado. they need to be 518, from salt lake city to colorado. the answer was that all the information would be sent to us after we accept the load. i said, i can not accept a load that is short 500 miles. when i accept that load with the miles stated i am accepting the pay on the listed miles. and i told him/her whoever it was, that both of us know swift is not going to pay 518 empty miles. that is why i want the empty miles correctly stated before i accept the load. they took that load off of us.
we never got another load all weekend long. monday when our dm came in we contacted her and she got us a load. she did tell us we can bobtail anywhere we want if we want to try and get a better load. bob tail to where, nobody said there is no freight here go there. i talked to a driver in salt lake city and there was no shortage of loads. no drivers waiting around for loads, sometimes we see that if there are a lot of drivers hanging out in the drivers lounge, that tells us nobody is getting loads. it was simply making us stand in the time out time out corner because we denied 2 loads, that they thought we should have accepted. and we made this clear when we talked to our dm.
because to the 3 days with no pay at the beginning of the week we can not afford to go home for easter and take another 3 days off. so that means now its been more that a month since i was home.
the loads this week have been good. we went from salt lake city to washington, to missouri, to oklahoma city to detroit michigan and next stop is laredo.
we had quit the thunder storm in kansas, i could see the dark clouds over to my right. i was thinking that wasnt my problem , looks like i was just in front of the storm. then a warning came across the cb, this area has just been issued a severe thunder storm warning. yada yada.
then all of a sudden it started pouring and the wind came from right to left. it didnt just start raining a little then building up to a down pour. everyone started talking on the cb. i dont know how ,i had to keep both hands on the wheel to keep on the road. started to slow down and woke will up. he said where are we. kansas, oh great. wheres dorthy. it was the worst white knuckle 10 minutes i ever had.
we took the next load to michagan. i think michagan is old indian word for land of low bridges. they dont even give you warning. normally you see a warning low bridge ahead sign .they give the height of the bridge in plenty of time to exit, then get back on the freeway. we had to go under a bridge, the sign said 13'6 . oh boy. we are officially 13'6. but that s just the average height. your actual height depends on new tire, worn down tires, empty, loaded. if you are loaded you might be a little less the 13'6, empty, a little higher. you could see the damage from other trucks that have hit the bridge, and the fact that didnt see any other trucks on the road made me nervous.
so i went under that bridge much slower than the 45 posted speed. while driving through detroit i thought this is where all the animal planet animal police episodes are filmed.
a lot of nice historic churches in the area
since we are close to chicago we are planning on having a nice genuine chicago pizza for easter dinner.
love and miss you all
