A Call to David

Well, here we are someplace in Or. but I do have cell signal. I called the 800 no. and spoke to the director of operations. I told him my reasons for resigning and thanked him for the opportunity that he presented me with. I guess I'm too much of a type A person to do the reefer business. I figure, I show up on time they should load/unload me on time. but it doesnt work that way, be late and lose your bonus, be on time and get jerked round and if you have multiple stops there's a domino effect that really fouls you up. I think I'll look for a job driving a mail truck or whatever hopefully dealing with people who want to see me at each stop of my day. Oh well till that happens bigredtruck.blogspot.com will be less than active...

Not fit for the Reefer business

The first HnR truck that delivered in southcentral L.A. got into the dock quickly but sat for 7 hours at the next stop waiting to be called to the dock to be loaded, so although a little bit better, their day didnt go that great either. Oh and did I mention that they sat for 12 hours extra in High River waiting for a trailer that wasn't actually loaded when they got there and really wasn't ready until 10:30 p.m. the night before they were supposed to leave. ( Last Sunday) What did they get for that, nada, zip, zero, pfftt. What did we get outta this well my trainer actually gets some $$ for each extra stop that we had to make but as a trainee I get zip except one less night in my own bed in Lethbridge. I have reached a decision today, I like driving, I don't mind the long hours behind the wheel, my trainer and one other driver/trainer who evaluated me figure I'm just about ready to go. My problem? I do what is expected of me and expect the same from others, this doesnt happen in this biz. Because there is no downside to making a hauler wait there is no incentive to get you to the dock and loaded/unloaded if the rcvr/shipper takes a dislike to you the h*ll probably will freeze over before u get unloaded. I have decided to resign.

Off with the brakes and on with the zoom

One of my boys used to use that expression when he was young and it became our motto for the trip home. Routed through Ca. Or. Wa. Id. BC and Ab away we went. I drove till about 2:30 or so and the Mike took over. Ca. takes a long time to get out of when you're driving north, ever notice how skinny it is ? Anyway I went to bed, woke up and took over, Mike dozed, slept and finally went to bed again and by about 2:15 am early Sat. a.m. we were at Kingsgate ID border crossing. Mike took over the driving and I stretched out. I woke up when we stopped in Fernie and went in to buy some munchies at the 7-11. Scarfed down the munchies and laid out again. Next thing I knew it was 7:30am Sat morn and we were just pulling into the yard in Lethbridge. Glad to be home we finalized our paperwork, packed up our crap and called our respective spouses for a lift home. Drivers need to be compensated for all this hurry up and wait crap,

and so it goes

Thursday didnt go much better than Wednesday, 4 stops got jerked around at every one and the bottom line is that we got to pull out of the dock at the last stop in Salinas Ca at about 10:30 pm .

We'll try, ya right

10 pm someone pounds on the truck and tells us to back in, Have to call and cancell the other 2 appts for tonight being that the first one was for 10 and that's right now and it's 180 Km away. the midnight one is even further than that. *ssholes.

L.A. Wednesday Morning

Got to L.A. ( south central, yes that's right the same place you saw the guy get pulled out of his truck and hit with a brick during the riots here) Went to our delivery place at 4:30 a.m. hoping to get unloaded early, no such luck our appt wasn't till 8 a.m., went back at 8 a.m. and another HnR truck was there but her appt was for 6 a.m., went back to our parking spot after giving the receiver our ph#. - 11 a.m. still no call, called him (someone hung up on us the first time) and complained, fat lot of good that did, he finally called at 12:50 and we went over at 1 p.m. not bad only abt 5 hrs late, after unloading we called dispatch, no loads, we were advised to go park at Frazier Park (up I-5) and wait. Almost Frazier Park we received 5 satellite messages dispatching us to 5 different stops to pick up goods, appointments had been made for 8 pm 10 pm and 12 Mn.
Got to the first spot about 7:40 p.m. and checked in, all we needed from here were 2 pallets of oranges and I asked the shipper nicely if we could get squeezed in as we had other appointments to make. She said" We'll try" and handed me a card with a "28" on it to put on my windshield. Please note the trucks parked on either side of us had 23 and 25 respectively.

Off to L.A.

Off to L.A. in 1/2 and hour or so for a delivery Tues @ 6pm, will let u know how it's rolling. - JB

Calgary again then home to Lethbridge

Short week I guess, Dropped the O.J. in Cgy to go to Winterpeg and took 28tons of Pepsi to Lethbridge then off till Sunday when we leave for sunny Ca. again

Well No Ca This Wk

Here we are in spokane at min maid and dropped our concentrate. Now we r taking juice back to cgy 4 winnipeg.

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Sent from my Rogers Wireless Cellular Phone

Updating seems messed up

Make sure you click on the link for the current month to see all the posts, seems my post of 12 OCT didn't make it to the top page like I wanted. It was there however if you click on October on the left side.

Will Be Home 2 Nite

Supper at Idaho Falls then jump in the drivers seat and n b we go.

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Sent from my Rogers Wireless Cellular Phone

The Marine Layer

They have this funky stuff in L.A. called the "marine layer" we call it fog here but this is what the freeway looks like at about 6:30 a.m. when the "marine layer " is present. Click the link to have a look, mind you the camera can see thru it better than we could!

In Ont. Ca Last Nite

97 f when we got here last nite. Now @ our 1st stop them 580 km 2 our next 1.

Vegas At 4 Mdt

Whoosh, can u ever get thru vegas fast at 4. Still 70f and heading 4 ocean side

On Our Way

Cleared insp . Ca here we come!

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Sent from my Rogers Wireless Cellular Phone

It.'S A Cluster

Great. Meat insp ends at 4 we got there at 428. Stuck in coutts till 8 a.m. Rats!

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On Our Way.,1400 Hrs

Loaded, scaled n headed for the border. Miles 2 go b4 I sleep

Oceanside On Monday

Good news! We have a destination and will be going monday.

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Sent from my Rogers Wireless Cellular Phone

Posting Time Fixed

The posting time from this post forward will now reflect current mountain time.

Good News

Just got my drug test back, I am good to go for this weekend. Gotta tell Mike so that he brings some books 2 read.