we have started our dedicated route. but before i get to that, the last delivery we made rather tried to make was a mess.
the business was hard to find. seemed like they were hiding behind a tree. will walked up to see what the dock location was like. he does that most of the time when he isnt sure and doesnt want to get into a situation he cant get out of. notice i said 'he' cause 'me' never gets in a backing or docking situation. the shipping papers had a note that said, must use experience driver, blind side docking from busy street...do not send trailers with skirting. thats a sheet of metal that a lot of companys are putting on trailers to help reduce drag and increase mpg.
at first we thought they didnt want trailers with wind shield because they were going to use a mirror to look under the trailer for bombs or whatever. but thats not why they had that statement. when will went in to talk to someone, the supervisor told him most trucks cant come in. the railroad tracks routinely grab and tear off the landing gear. the supervisor told will last week he helped the driver pick up the pieces and toss it in the trailer. that would suck. he said the problem is the degree and and peak of the tracks. the supervisor told us they are always contacting the city of portland and the railroad and each says its the others problem.
so we contacted our dm told her the situation and waited for directions. she said she would contact so-and-so. we waited about an hour with no response. will decided to go over there and see if we could do it. mostly just to be able to tell dispatch that we did so try. thought maybe from an angle stuff wouldnt get hung up. but you can see that didnt work.
good thing will was going slow, if he had been hurrying to get out of the way of traffic we would have torn up the truck. after we decided this wasnt going to happen and i and the supervisor got enough pictures will decided it was time to head back to the swift yard and give them back the loaded trailer. will starts to pull forward very slowly because i was on one side and the supervisor was on the other side watching the landing gear. they scrap across the tracks just like they did when backing up. then the angle of the trailer changes and the corner of the dot bumper gets hung up and pops.
we call our dm and report it. she said bring the load back and they will figure it out. so i emailed her the pictures.
now we are starting our dedicated route. seattle to los angles (hawthorne) and back to seattle. there is a south bound stop in portland. and north bound we will stop in hayward and in portland. so far it seems to be working out. but we've only just begun (hey someone should write a song..) we are almost to la as i write this.
while i was driving past los banos there was a fire on i5. it was on both sides and in the middle. but they let us drive through.
fire season in california. they had helicopters and planes.
love and miss you all
