Delivered our load in Del Rio, Tx. What should have been a very routine delivery turned into a complete nightmare! I was a little worried about the drive from El Paso to Del Rio, having never made that drive before. I could see looking at it on the map that the route was going to follow the US-Mexican Border. The drive would be done during the night hours and on US highways. The route was pretty desolate. I think I only passed through a couple of little towns during the last 200 miles. You could hardly even call them towns. There was very little other traffic and I just hoped and prayed that the truck didn't break down and leave us stranded in that remote location along the border. I hear too many stories about crime in those areas. We were literally close enough to the border to look out the passenger window and see the fence that separates the two countries. The other thing that worried me was all the deer that I was seeing along the side of the road. I usually never see deer in Texas and it's one of the reasons I like driving there. After having hit a deer in Upstate New York once, I now have a phobia of repeating that incident.
Fortunately, I made it safe and sound and three hours ahead of schedule. I parked the truck at a Stripes truckstop about a mile and a half from our delivery point and took a two hour nap. I woke up at 7 AM EST and headed to the delivery. I pulled out of the truck stop, turned left, went through a stop light, about a half mile down the road it curved to the right. As I rounded the curve, there right in front of me was the entrance into Mexico!! I panicked and saw a driveway to my right and I whipped the truck into the driveway. John came flying up into the cab wanting to know what was going on. I told him that I almost just drove us into Mexico. He had to guide me while I backed back out into the highway and headed back to the truckstop to see what was going on with my gps. She should know better than to try and cross the border. I studied google maps for a few minutes and saw an alternate route so off I went. It seemed like it was going to be okay. Up until the point that I came to a railroad crossing. We recently had an apu added to our truck and for some reason the installer positioned it so that it has very low clearance to the ground. We should have made him move it up while we were there, but for some reason we didn't and we have been dealing with it since. I could see by the way the railroad crossing was designed that it was going to be a tight fit for us to cross. Not only that, but once we crossed we needed to make a left turn onto a highway and there wasn't room for our truck to clear the tracks without being out in the highway. Normally in that situation, we would not cross the tracks until we could see the highway was clear, then cross and continue to make the turn without stopping. However, in our current situation, we had to cross the tracks slowly so John could watch from outside to make sure our apu cleared and didn't get hung up on the tracks. The apu cleared, I stopped the truck,John jumped back in and in that amount of time, a couple of cars came along which made me have to sit there before I could turn. Completely illegal to have part of the truck stopped across the tracks and I was not happy, but what else could I do? The cars went past and I tried to pull forward to make my turn. The truck wouldn't go forward!! Oh my God, now what? I put it in neutral, back into first and tried again. Nothing. It dawned on me that our dolly legs may be stuck on the tracks. We drive a straight truck with a single rear axle, so we have dolly legs that have to be lowered when we are getting loaded and unloaded. They also have a very low clearance to the ground and have caused us problems before. That's another story! I screamed at John that I thought our legs were stuck on the tracks. He jumps back out, runs to the back and sure enough, one of them was caught. I backed up, he spun it around and tilted it so that it was at a different angle and I was able to pull forward. I crossed the highway and stopped and he ran back over and jumped back in. At this point, I was ready to cry and to throw up. If a cop had come along at that time, I could have lost my license for stopping on the track, not to mention what a disaster it would have been if a train had decided to come along! Thinking that the worst was surely behind us, I moved forward and wouldn't you know, I had to go about a tenth of a mile and make a left turn....back across the stinking rr tracks! John jumped out, watched me cross and fortunately this time all truck parts cleared the tracks.
Made it to the consignee all in one piece and of course there's nobody there. I tried calling the number dispatch gave us and got a recording saying that the girl was on vacation till October. This is May. Who takes vacation from May to October? I send a message over the qc to dispatch and ask for another number to call, telling them what the voice mail message said. I get a message back saying that that message is from last year, that the girl never updated her message and she would indeed be there, but that she doesn't come in until 9. Obviously they knew this all along so my question is, why do they schedule appts for us at times when they know nobody is going to be there to load/unload us? Things like this are what have me considering changing carriers. It happens way too much and is completely unnecessary.
With all that drama behind us, I drove back to the truckstop, parked it, and collapsed into bed. The mental stress had drained me. All the negativity of the prior week just seemed to keep building and building and I felt like I was gonna snap. Shortly afterwards, dispatch calls with a load offer, a really good one picking up right in Del Rio and going 1640 miles to Detroit. I said yes, we would take it, then he informs me that he didn't have it booked yet, just needed to know if we would be interested first. He promised to call me back within 10 minutes one way or the other. 20 minutes later he calls back to inform me that he did not get the load. Sorry. This trend has been going on all week and I really don't understand it. We've been with this carrier for over 2 years and this has never happened. I've also noticed that all the dispatchers who are calling are new to me. Very odd. About an hour or so later we got a load offer over the qc. This time the load was picking up in the same location that we had just delivered to and was delivering next day to Garland, Tx. It was only 400 miles. I refused it because that would have put us on the Dallas load board and that board is the kiss of death. We have gotten stuck so many times on that board that there was no way I was doing it at this time. In different circumstances I would take that load, but not with only 800 miles for the week.
It got quiet after that so I used the time to call the International dealership in Orlando and ask what the status was for the refund I was requesting on the defective ac repair they had done back in September. The service manager agreed to reimburse us for the new tube which was a little over $300. He is putting a check into the mail for us. Finally, something good happened!
A little bit later, dispatch called again with another potential load offer. This one was picking up that night in Laredo and going 1604 miles to Ohio. The down side is that it was 12 pieces and over 9000 lbs. A heavy load for us. He tried to discount the rate by 10 cents a mile and I told him no. I wanted our full rate. He went and talked to his supervisor and said could we split the difference and take a five cent a mile cut? I again said no. I want my full rate. Its a heavy load and our fuel mileage is going to suck. Away he goes, comes back and says fine, I'll send it over at your full rate. John was mad at me for taking it because he didn't think it would fit the truck. I told him the dispatcher said the pieces were stackable so they should fit but he wasn't convinced. We got to the shipper at 11 PM and it turned out to be one of the easiest pickups we've had. And as a bonus, it ended up being only 2 pieces and 1600 lbs. The rest of the freight never made it across the border from Mexico. I cleared it with dispatch that we were okay to roll with only the 2 pieces. They got on the phone with the customer and we got clearance to go. Woohoo! Finally, at long last, on our way out of Texas!
By the way, as soon as we get through northern Indiana, we will be going back to the place that installed our apu and having them raise it up higher because we are done stressing over this thing. Now we also need to see if we can find a way to get more clearance on those dolly legs!
Fortunately, I made it safe and sound and three hours ahead of schedule. I parked the truck at a Stripes truckstop about a mile and a half from our delivery point and took a two hour nap. I woke up at 7 AM EST and headed to the delivery. I pulled out of the truck stop, turned left, went through a stop light, about a half mile down the road it curved to the right. As I rounded the curve, there right in front of me was the entrance into Mexico!! I panicked and saw a driveway to my right and I whipped the truck into the driveway. John came flying up into the cab wanting to know what was going on. I told him that I almost just drove us into Mexico. He had to guide me while I backed back out into the highway and headed back to the truckstop to see what was going on with my gps. She should know better than to try and cross the border. I studied google maps for a few minutes and saw an alternate route so off I went. It seemed like it was going to be okay. Up until the point that I came to a railroad crossing. We recently had an apu added to our truck and for some reason the installer positioned it so that it has very low clearance to the ground. We should have made him move it up while we were there, but for some reason we didn't and we have been dealing with it since. I could see by the way the railroad crossing was designed that it was going to be a tight fit for us to cross. Not only that, but once we crossed we needed to make a left turn onto a highway and there wasn't room for our truck to clear the tracks without being out in the highway. Normally in that situation, we would not cross the tracks until we could see the highway was clear, then cross and continue to make the turn without stopping. However, in our current situation, we had to cross the tracks slowly so John could watch from outside to make sure our apu cleared and didn't get hung up on the tracks. The apu cleared, I stopped the truck,John jumped back in and in that amount of time, a couple of cars came along which made me have to sit there before I could turn. Completely illegal to have part of the truck stopped across the tracks and I was not happy, but what else could I do? The cars went past and I tried to pull forward to make my turn. The truck wouldn't go forward!! Oh my God, now what? I put it in neutral, back into first and tried again. Nothing. It dawned on me that our dolly legs may be stuck on the tracks. We drive a straight truck with a single rear axle, so we have dolly legs that have to be lowered when we are getting loaded and unloaded. They also have a very low clearance to the ground and have caused us problems before. That's another story! I screamed at John that I thought our legs were stuck on the tracks. He jumps back out, runs to the back and sure enough, one of them was caught. I backed up, he spun it around and tilted it so that it was at a different angle and I was able to pull forward. I crossed the highway and stopped and he ran back over and jumped back in. At this point, I was ready to cry and to throw up. If a cop had come along at that time, I could have lost my license for stopping on the track, not to mention what a disaster it would have been if a train had decided to come along! Thinking that the worst was surely behind us, I moved forward and wouldn't you know, I had to go about a tenth of a mile and make a left turn....back across the stinking rr tracks! John jumped out, watched me cross and fortunately this time all truck parts cleared the tracks.
Made it to the consignee all in one piece and of course there's nobody there. I tried calling the number dispatch gave us and got a recording saying that the girl was on vacation till October. This is May. Who takes vacation from May to October? I send a message over the qc to dispatch and ask for another number to call, telling them what the voice mail message said. I get a message back saying that that message is from last year, that the girl never updated her message and she would indeed be there, but that she doesn't come in until 9. Obviously they knew this all along so my question is, why do they schedule appts for us at times when they know nobody is going to be there to load/unload us? Things like this are what have me considering changing carriers. It happens way too much and is completely unnecessary.
With all that drama behind us, I drove back to the truckstop, parked it, and collapsed into bed. The mental stress had drained me. All the negativity of the prior week just seemed to keep building and building and I felt like I was gonna snap. Shortly afterwards, dispatch calls with a load offer, a really good one picking up right in Del Rio and going 1640 miles to Detroit. I said yes, we would take it, then he informs me that he didn't have it booked yet, just needed to know if we would be interested first. He promised to call me back within 10 minutes one way or the other. 20 minutes later he calls back to inform me that he did not get the load. Sorry. This trend has been going on all week and I really don't understand it. We've been with this carrier for over 2 years and this has never happened. I've also noticed that all the dispatchers who are calling are new to me. Very odd. About an hour or so later we got a load offer over the qc. This time the load was picking up in the same location that we had just delivered to and was delivering next day to Garland, Tx. It was only 400 miles. I refused it because that would have put us on the Dallas load board and that board is the kiss of death. We have gotten stuck so many times on that board that there was no way I was doing it at this time. In different circumstances I would take that load, but not with only 800 miles for the week.
It got quiet after that so I used the time to call the International dealership in Orlando and ask what the status was for the refund I was requesting on the defective ac repair they had done back in September. The service manager agreed to reimburse us for the new tube which was a little over $300. He is putting a check into the mail for us. Finally, something good happened!
A little bit later, dispatch called again with another potential load offer. This one was picking up that night in Laredo and going 1604 miles to Ohio. The down side is that it was 12 pieces and over 9000 lbs. A heavy load for us. He tried to discount the rate by 10 cents a mile and I told him no. I wanted our full rate. He went and talked to his supervisor and said could we split the difference and take a five cent a mile cut? I again said no. I want my full rate. Its a heavy load and our fuel mileage is going to suck. Away he goes, comes back and says fine, I'll send it over at your full rate. John was mad at me for taking it because he didn't think it would fit the truck. I told him the dispatcher said the pieces were stackable so they should fit but he wasn't convinced. We got to the shipper at 11 PM and it turned out to be one of the easiest pickups we've had. And as a bonus, it ended up being only 2 pieces and 1600 lbs. The rest of the freight never made it across the border from Mexico. I cleared it with dispatch that we were okay to roll with only the 2 pieces. They got on the phone with the customer and we got clearance to go. Woohoo! Finally, at long last, on our way out of Texas!
By the way, as soon as we get through northern Indiana, we will be going back to the place that installed our apu and having them raise it up higher because we are done stressing over this thing. Now we also need to see if we can find a way to get more clearance on those dolly legs!
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