Thursday, March 22, 2012

Only Missed a Tornado

Last week at home was great. The weather was beautiful and it was awesome to see family and catch up on our rest....but all good things come to an end and it was time to get back on the road.

We got our load to pick up our load in Aurora at Furniture Row and we were heading to Idaho Falls, ID. We were 200 miles away from delivery when we got a message saying we needed to head to Salt Lake City instead. Another team needed us to take over their load. She stepped off of the top bunk funny and something popped in her foot and she could not drive. So we made a left instead of a right and headed into Salt Lake. We had to wait 3 hours for them to meet us and as we waited the weather started to move in. Our new assignment was to NY, which meant turning right back around and driving back through WY...the only icky weather happening in the entire United States. We ran into snow in WY, hail, rain and thick fog in NE.

I woke up in Princeton, IL and we were having reefer issues. With a truckload full of produce and 70+ degree temps, time was of the essence to get to a place to get it fixed...pronto. we were sent off-route north to Aurora, IL and within an hour of arriving we were fixed and on our way. Unfortunately it meant we had to go through Chicago to get to our next fuel stop. We took I-294, a toll road, which would bring us right back onto the 80 again and on route. We went for 6 miles on the toll road when everything came to a screeching halt. The highway was closed...all 5 lanes of it, everybody exiting on 95th Avenue. WTH?? It took 4 hours of being cut off, honked at and much frustration to finally get back on the highway and be back on our way. What a nightmare. Come to find out, a tanker had been cut-off and jack knifed across all lanes of the highway and spilled acid everywhere
See attached link for photos.
http://chicagoareafire.com/blog/tag/tanker-carrying-hydrocloric-acid-rolls-over-on-the-highway/

Believe it or not we arrived in NY only 1 hour late to our original appointment time. But we ended up having to wait until the next day to deliver. It was 76 degrees yesterday and today it is already 81...crazy. London is warn out from playing and we have made our delivery and are ready for a nap b4 we receive our next load assignment. Until next time...


Sunday, March 11, 2012

Almost Home

Looking forward to some hometime...500 more miles and we will be free.

I am looking forward to making updates on the blog that my phone just won't let me update, and possibly making a Tablet purchase. But I am mostly looking forward to coming home to that baby and a house full of kids. Ready for some quality time.

We will catch up soon...




Friday, March 2, 2012

London Beagle, The Perfect Truck Dog

I look back on the last 2 years of our new career and wonder how we ever did this job without our buddy London. It's been an entire year now that he has always been by our side...through three different companies and seven different trucks. He is the perfect dog. Patient, sweet, loving and always there for you when you need a hug or just somebody to keep you company. Every morning he wakes up in a chipper mood and ready to face another day, even though he is a bed hog. He is always happy to just 'be' with you. If one of us is in the passenger seat, he has to be on your lap, either hanging out the window, or sitting dutifully on your lap giving you kisses and hugs all the while. He makes this job so much more enjoyable. He gets us out of our truck at least twice a day to take a walk and make new friends...whether they are the furry kind or another truck driver who has to stop and say hi. He is our protector. I can honestly say he would never allow anybody in our truck that we would not welcome and when we are away from the truck, game on...its his to protect and he takes his job very seriously.

I'm so thankful that he came into our lives...and he picked us, which makes our job and our lives richer...something money could never buy.








Bad Apple's

For the first time in over a year I need to vent about this load we just took...what a joke. We knew it was going to be an issue when we picked it up from the shipper....too shady. When a shipper will not let you sign next to your signature, NAOD and STC, which stands for, Not Allowed on Dock and Said To Contain, there should b a red flag. I was told I could not sign it that way and on the original Bill of Lading the shipping clerk used white out to mark out my abbreviations next to my signature. If a shipper hands you paperwork and you are supposed to sign for the product loaded on your truck and they won't even back up what the paperwork says and what they loaded on your truck, that's a BIG problem. A Bill of Lading is a contract and anything altered on that contract, makes that agreement null and void.

Bottom line...we had product refused, and I don't think this is a US Xpress or driver issue. We, as drivers, did everything possible to protect our product on our truck, and US Xpress. We deliver the product in the exact way it was loaded on our truck. If you look at the pics below you can see that the vendor that received the product opened up cartons and moved product from said cartons AFTER the load was received. Are you now going to tell me that we are responsible for every piece of produce that is loaded on our truck in cartons? Insane. I am beginning to think that this produce hauling is a open invitation to liability to the carrier...if we had damaged any freight during transporting, we would have gladly admitted fault. But with 30 pallets and three load bars on this load (one even being a double load bar) I can guarantee you that NOTHING moved or fell while in transit. The product was loaded that way from the shipper.

The next Apple I eat will sure make me think twice about what it went through to get to my mouth.