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NEW IH REFER TO KS
Wednesday -
6/8/11
I don't usually write up one day trips but this one was
unique, as most are.
The refers on some of these truck are electric
only. They need to be plugged in at night and then they will hold the needed
temp for a day or two or … But something had happened to the electrical
system at this location and they needed 'self-contained' refer units like on
the semi's … NOW. And the trucks needed to be frozen when they got to
delivery. The call must have came late in the day Tuesday as they didn't have
time to move any yet Tuesday, but got some of them in position to be moved.
I was only doing local this week so they didn't have anything lined up
for me until this came up, found out after I looked at my paperwork that there
are nine of us delivering and flying home on the same flight.
Without
doing the math, I told them that I'd be leaving at 6 AM, same time as yesterday
for my local shuttle. They had a couple of other driver that they thought I
could run with, not sure why, they've both been there for months.
The
last two mornings I'd been awake before my alarm has gone off so I got to the
lot about 15 minutes early. Plan was to leave right at 6 AM unless someone was
just getting there. Did see one of the drivers cars when I got there but they
were long gone (yesterday they left, took the truck home with them. Three of
them did) One of the drivers gets there when I'm about ready to move their
truck so I can leave. Instead I wait for them to inspect their truck and leave
ahead of me. Nothing is said about running together, I stop and close the gate
and they are gone.
I do remember to turn the refer on, I only wrote it
two places on my paperwork. I had not planned on running this week at all.
Family plans (plus road check 2011… where the DOT is supposed to do a
record number of inspections in a three day period)
I have enough fuel
to get a ways down the road, I'm hoping IA, then it should only be two fuel
stops for the day. I'm early enough to miss traffic, but I don't take any
chances and add a few miles by not going through downtown. An hour down the
road I see one of our trucks stopped at a truckstop, no idea who it is.
First IA scale is open with two trucks behind the office, but I get
the green light. 2nd IA scale will be closed. I do make it to the Pilot in
Clear Lake, IA with no problems, as usual, I leave my truck run. I see another
one of our drivers at another island, must be new, haven't seen him before.
While I'm fueling the person who left before my pulls in.
For some
reason I'm hunger this AM and decide to get a 'cheeseburger stick.' It's like a
piece of sausage but hamburger, cheese and something to hold it together …
bread dough maybe? This takes a few extra seconds, and the juice is not with
the other liquids … then when I pay I can't remember my pump number so
instead of getting my receipt from the cashier I go and wait in line at the
Kiosk for someone who is getting all their receipts for this week (it seems)
More time lost.
I get back to my truck and the guy who was ahead of me
is still blocked in … but I didn't do my log while I was fueling so I have
to take a few seconds and he's ahead of me again/still. I let another truck go
ahead also so we aren't 'running together' when we get to a scale but that
gives our person behind me enough time to be on my tail when I head up the ramp
to the freeway. But not for long, it seems my truck has extra 'umph' and I pull
ahead, maybe less than a mile per hour but it adds up, two hours later I can't
see them anymore.
South of Des Moines I start making calls. Dispatch
had asked about setting up a Super Shuttle for us when we got back home but
never said anything about doing it for us at our drop. I didn't ask because at
the time I didn't know how many were going. Once I found out, I emailed them
after hours and asked them to set one up for our drop. When I call, I found out
they don't have time ??? ;)
So I start calling drivers and find we are
in three bunches, one bunch will deliver at about 2 PM, we'll delivery about 3
PM and the last will deliver about 4 PM (our flight is at 5 PM, so not sure how
that's going to work. I call Super Shuttle in KC and after being on the phone
for over 20 minutes and talking to five people, I find out that their drivers
are busy at the time requested. By then I'm coming up on the MO scale so I need
to be off the phone.
I get the green light again at the MO scale,
again, two trucks behind the office so there is a little action today, but not
the 'record numbers' they keep predicting.
I just leave it as we'll
each find cabs when we deliver but another driver says he'll call ahead.
Running the refer is sucking more fuel than usual (when not running the refer)
but I still think I'm doing good when I past Camron, I should make it to
Kearney and a Pilot there.
When I go past the exit for the hospital I
notice a cop at the bottom of the ramp, I watch to make sure he doesn't follow
me … he doesn't, but in my mirror I notice more cops at the top of the
ramp, then in my mirror I see a boom truck with a flag hanging from it and
dozens of people standing there … my first thought is a strike by the
hospital employee's and that's what I'm thinking about when I see a lone
motorcycle cop with his lights on. Don't see many of those in MO … but.
Then a half mile down the road I meet another, that is when I also
notice that there is no other traffic on the oncoming lanes, but the guy is not
traveling at high speeds … THEN when I (or they) crest a hill, I see them,
I'm guessing around 300 police, fire and rescue trucks … all with their
lights flashing. I was so in Ahh that I didn't think of counting or even
checking the mileage but with the precession that followed had to be miles.
(Here is what I found now) Now I have something new to think of when I go
through Cameron.
http://mynwmo.com/cameron/article_d1cc66ba-91ea-11e0-a18c-001cc4c03286.html
http://www.newstribune.com/obituaries/2011/jun/08/jeff-taylor/
Before I see the precession, I hear from the drivers ahead of me not
to stop at the Pilot, it is a mess. It always is and I had just passed the
Cameron truckstops. Minutes later I will call them back and tell them why they
can't move, but by then they know. Their exit is blocked off so anyone going
north has to sit and wait.
It's almost clear when I get to Pilot, they
aren't backed up into the lot anymore but still a half dozen trying to get onto
the highway. By now I am flat on 'E' and no open pumps. The truck is running
rough so I shut it off as soon as I stop. I pick the wrong lane, three people
who pull in after me fuel ahead of me but I don't dare try to move my truck
anywhere but straight ahead so I wait. They guy has gone in to 'pre-pay' so he
hasn't even started fueling when I get there.
The truck does re-start,
I move and shut it off ASAP again. Whew, not sure why I do this … I top it
off good and math says I still had 10 gallons avail ??? Maybe.
That
'cheeseburger stick' didn't agree with me so I'll be spending a couple of extra
minutes at this stop. I can get between the truck ahead of me and the pump and
into the next lane which is out of service. Note to self: 'Do not eat
'cheesesticks' on the road.'
No problem getting out of the truckstop,
only two trucks ahead of me. I starting calling drivers again. The other two
drivers I've seen today are now running together, they stopped at Cameron to
fuel. The last group is really two groups of three and one. The solo driver
estimates he'll be to the drop about 3:30 PM but we already decided what the
cut off was going to be before I tried to set up Super Shuttle and it was 3 PM
so he is on his own.
The drivers ahead of us call when I'm about 10
miles away they've called a taxi for 2:45 (it's now 2 PM) so we should not have
an issue. One of the drivers told me it was harder to find the customer than
the address, it's a big storage complex. I still get lost, then I see the
trucks in the distance but have to get back on the highway to get there.
The other drivers have had their trucks signed for but we can't find
the guy again and don't have a number for the person 'on site.' By the time I
find him and we get my truck re-parked, the other two are there and the taxi
says he's here but we can't see them.
During the check-in the customer
notices that the one truck is not froze down, when asked the driver says "I had
it on, but it was sucking too much fuel." WHAT??? We are running these trucks
today, at this time of day, so that we will deliver them FROZE DOWN so they can
start loading them for tomorrows runs. It amazes me the disconnect sometimes
… Not only had dispatch told us to run them, but they called during the
day to make sure we were running them …
Taxi … taxi … I
go walking to the highway so I can wave at him. I catch him and … it's not
a van. We have to fit four drivers into the back of standard passenger car plus
the big guy in front. Lucky me, small guy, they all sit with their butts to the
back and I sit/kneel with my butt against the seat … for twenty plus
minutes. My legs went to sleep, I had to wake them up before I could stand up.
I didn't know what the rate was supposed to be, we ended up with $60
with tip.
A new guy hasn't flown in years so I walk him through the
self service kiosk and then to security but I forgot a basic … take the
water bottle out of your back pack … 'No liquids?' Small airport and they
were good about it.
The only food is before security but I wasn't
planning on eating. Only a kiosk with sandwiches and liquids. I first buy a
juice then realize I'm not going to make it without eating also. Now that we
have decided that our wives are not picking us up and taking the Super Shuttle,
I won't have time to stop at Charley's.
As they start to load the
plane, the last driver to make it shows up. I'll find out later that the last
three drivers have had their flights rescheduled. In talking we find out that
this driver paid $38 for his ride, that is when the driver who set ours up says
that was what he was quoted … So I ask the lone driver which way his
driver went … the Mapquest/shortest route … we tipped a guy who took
us for a ride.
The agents say the flight is full, but we are on the
plane as they are (likely) paging our other drivers. I end up with a seat next
to me empty so I can actually work on my computer … but it's only an hour
flight so only about a half hour computer time. The stewardesses are only
halfway down the plane with drinks when the pilot says we are landing shortly.
At some point I find out that the last drivers were to pick-up their
trucks in WI, but one of them had been moved to our lot in MN so they had to
find that out then get there. Lucky for them that dispatch picked up the phone
early or they'd have been even later. The last driver to make the flight had
left on time, same time as me, but 100 miles further away, but had gotten
caught up in MSP traffic.
Super Shuttle ride was a lot nicer than our
taxi ride. |
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