Del Rio to Laredo

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!

Catching up on our Loads

After an exciting ferry ride, we've really just been busy driving and making money. A good thing, much better than not making money, or even worse, spending lots of money! After the ferry ride, the loads went like this:

Liverpool, NY to St. Augustine, Fl
Beaufort, Sc to Indian Head, Md
Indian Head, Md to Yorktown, Va
Lynchburg, Va to Roanoke, Va
Blacksburg, Va to Tonawanda, NY
Meadville, Pa to Fond Du Lac, Wi
Escanaba, Mi to Water Valley, Ms

That rounds out the month of July. Not a bad month! The drive up to Escanaba, Michigan was a beautiful one. We drove right along the west shore of Lake Michigan and there are some really cute cottages all the way up through there. It would be a really cool place for a group of family members to be able to take a summer vacation together.

Truck finally fixed

Being off work for a couple of weeks seems like it would be great, right? Most likely it would be if you could be at home or at a vacation spot of your choice. Being in New York in a cheap motel is not so great. We waited and waited for what seemed like an eternity to get out truck back.

We thought about renting a car and driving to Indiana to visit relatives, but we could never get a definite answer from the dealership on when the truck would be repaired. We decided to stay close so we would be able to get back to work as soon as it was ready. It gets really boring in a motel room after a few days.

We definitely got caught up on our rest. I got our bookkeeping all caught up. We watched seasons worth of Kardashians. We watched a lot of  movies. Unfortunately, due to the location of this motel, going out for walks isn't really a good idea.

But now, all that is behind us. We are back in the truck, and the dealership did a great job with repairs. Insurance covered all but $100 of the damage which totaled almost $5000. Imagine if a small car had hit that deer! I'm very thankful that only the truck was damaged, and no one was injured.

After getting the truck back and moving our stuff back in, we went back in service. We got a load pretty quickly and were dispatched to pick up in St. Mary's, Pa. We delivered that load in Danville, Il and immediately picked up another load in Mundelein, Il. We are now heading to Kansas City, Mo for delivery.

It's still deer season so I know I'm going to be really nervous every time I see a deer. Those deer seem to lose their mind this time of year!

Deer in the Headlights

Freaking Deer!

The repairs were completed on our truck and we finally got a load picking up on Tuesday in Indian Head, Maryland. Some cities have the strangest names. That load delivered in Patuxent River, Maryland. Maybe all the cities in Maryland have strange names?

Next we picked up in Dahlgren, Va and delivered in Yorktown Va. If you have a military background, you probably guessed that all these loads were in military bases. Fun times!

Deer damage

From there we headed to Richmond, Va and took it to Wilmington, Ma. The next day we got a load picking up in Ft. Devens, Ma that was supposed to be going to Nogales, Az. After we took off with it we were informed that the shipper changed his mind and now we were taking it to Chicago, Il.

We were really not happy about that, but there wasn't anything we could do. It was a nasty night out. Windy and rainy. John drove first and we saw a one vehicle accident on the passenger side of the road. Somehow the guy flipped his car. We can only assume speed had to be a factor.

After John's shift was over, I started driving. I was on the NY thruway (90). Cruising along, talking on the phone with the boys, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a deer standing in the left hand lane. I hit the brakes and kept it straight on the road but the stupid deer jumped right in front of me. It was so loud when it hit that the boys could hear it through the phone. I pulled off on the shoulder and John came flying up front to see what happened. I told him I hit a deer.

Poor truck, stupid deer

We got out and looked at the damage and we had coolant running on the ground. The headlight on the passenger side was knocked completely out. The hood was knocked at an odd angle. We weren't going to be able to drive it with the coolant leaking. About that time a cop pulled up and I told him what happened. He reversed down the road and found the deer laying dead off to the side. I was so happy that the stupid deer was dead!

Lost our coolant

The cop called the tow truck company and the guy showed up and hooked us up. We had him take us to the nearest Freightliner dealership and he dropped us off there. Our carrier found another truck to come and take over our load. They showed up right after we got there and John and the other guy transferred the load to their truck. It was the middle of the night so we slept in the truck until they opened in the morning. We got things set up with them and then packed our bags. There was a motel down the road a little ways so we called a taxi and had him take us over there.

We got checked in and we are now waiting for the truck to be repaired. I can only imagine how long this is going to take.

Slow Week with Repairs

We delivered on Monday to Mississauga, Ontario. Immediately got a load picking up in Buffalo, Ny that was delivering in Queensbury, Ny. We were having some issues with the truck and the owner wanted us to bring it to her mechanic in Pennsylvania for repairs so that wiped out the rest of our week.

We are staying in a motel while repairs are made. Not sure how long that will take.

Family Camping Trip

After delivering in Brampton, Ontario we went to a truckstop in Missasauga. How very entertaining! The place doesn't have a lot of room, but it does have a lot of trucks who want to come in and fuel up. They end up stopping out on the road while they're waiting for their turn to come in. Traffic gets backed up and tempers flare. Horns are honking, fingers are waving. Good stuff.

We ended up getting a load picking up nearby and we took it Ithaca, New York. Not sure that I like New York much better than Canada, but at least we can use our phones and internet.

From there, it was a pickup in Archbald, Pa with a delivery in Waterloo, Iowa followed with a pickup in Anoka, Mn and a delivery in Montreal, Quebec. We had a hometime request in for northern Indiana. We have a family camping trip planned so I turned the Quebec load down. Of course, dispatch was desperate for it to be covered so they agreed to pay us for the load and for the deadhead back to Indiana. Grr. Didn't really want to do it. But we did.

Anyway, we are now in Indiana and getting ready to enjoy a much anticipated family vacation! Can't wait because I know we will have a blast. We are taking our truck to the campgrounds and other members of the family will have their campers and tents there.

Jamestown & Emporium Nightmares

After Jessie's Graduation party, we made our way on down the road to Sydney, Oh to get our load of foam delivered to the good people of Whirpool. I was in the factory and was able to see the end part of the conveyor belt and it is mind boggling to see refrigerators, one after the other constantly rolling by on that belt. Do they really sell that many? I can't imagine it. And that's just one brand. Think of all the others in the world and it's hard to believe that every day there are that many of anything that gets sold.

From there, we came back into Indiana to Fort Wayne and picked up a load heading to Jamestown, Ny. This was a hazmat load but we do a lot of those so it wasn't anything special. The special part was waiting for us when we made the delivery. Once again, our carrier instructed us to be there at a time when the consignee was not even open yet. Luckily there was an empty lot across the street and we parked there and got some good sleep in a non moving truck. The best!

When the warehouse opened, we checked in and got to special part number 2. Their dock was located inside. Uphill. In a tiny narrow space just big enough for us to get in. And we had to block the street while we were backing in. Fun times.

That accomplished, it was time for special part number 3. This was mostly special for John. The place we delivered to was doing experimental research on the new International Windstar trucks. They are beautiful unique looking trucks. Apparently they are having issues with running hot so this place was figuring out a solution to the problem and that is the reason we were there. We brought them 4 55 gallon barrels of coolant. They gave John a tour of a couple of the trucks and he was a happy boy.

The downside to all of this is that we were predispatched on two more loads and due to the delays getting this one delivered, there was no way we were going to make our next pickup on time. I called dispatch and advised them and they said don't worry about it, just get there as quick as you can.

We finished up and headed out to Emporium, Pa. What a freaking nightmare. Up up up into the twisting winding moutain roads. I think our average speed was probably around 45 mph. This isn't good when you are trying to make up for lost time. We did our best and found the place, got loaded and headed out.

We were so far behind schedule now that we knew we definitely couldn't make the next pick up on time either so again I contacted dispatch and relayed the information. Their answer was again, just get there as quick as you can. We were both getting grumpy because this meant no time to stop to eat and bathroom breaks were kept to a minimum and very rushed.

We made it to our delivery in East Syracuse, NY and things went pretty smooth there. We immediately headed out to the next pickup in Albany, NY. This one was a swap with another driver who had a load going to Canada. Only, the driver doesn't go to Canada. So we agreed to take it.

We met the driver at a cross dock and got the freight off their truck onto ours. We headed out then to St. John, NB. Hopefully, all will go well as we haven't been to this part of the country before.

Another Busy Week...Getting Tired

We thought we would at least get Sunday off, but the freight must be really running strong right now. We managed to get our truck maintenance squeezed in between loads and then it was off to Morganton, NC for a load bound for Louisville, Ky. Some car manufacturing plants are a real pain to deliver parts too. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Next was a pickup in Cordon, In heading to Lake Orion, Mi followed by a load picking up in Manchester, Mi heading back up north of the border to Ayr, On. We get more and more irritated each time we take a load across the border. It gets old very quickly, all the questions and the being treated like a criminal just because you are doing your job and need to return to your own country. We are seriously reconsidering doing the Canada loads but we're just not sure how  busy we would stay without them. Other drivers say they think we would do better without Canada. We'll have to think it over.

After that, it was East Aurora, NY to Baltimore, Md. Yikes! Talk about traffic. You can't get anywhere fast up in the Northeast. I don't know how those people can stand to drive in that every single day. Then it was a pickup in Norwalk, Ct and a delivery in Weymouth, Ma.

Things died down after that one and we have received a couple of much needed days off. We still lack the stamina to drive miles like seasoned truck drivers do and I know it's because we still haven't learned to sleep in a moving truck. Hopefully soon a switch will flip and it will be easier for us to do.

One of Our Busiest Weeks

After the last Canadian debacle, we had a nice peaceful Mother's Day off. Time to rest up and get ready for the next adventure.  We didn't have to wait too long. Next up was a pickup in Syracuse, NY. And, true to form, a delivery in Ontario. This time in Ottawa. The capital of Ontario. It was quite a drive, but nothing too exciting. 

After that load was completed, we turned around and went right back to Syracuse for the next pickup but this time we were spared the return trip to Canada and instead we headed for St. Paul, Minnesota. The scenery along the drive was beautiful.

It was a busy week with no breaks. We delivered and immediately went to Eagan, MN for the next pickup to be delivered in Hartland, Wi. This was followed by another immediate pickup in Elkhorn, Wi with a delivery in Fredericktown, Ohio. From there we went to Groveport, Ohio and that one delivered direct to Asheboro, North Carolina. 

What a week! We actually felt like real truck drivers this week with all the nonstop action.  Now that it's Saturday, we'll see if there's any freight for the weekend or if we manage to get a couple of days off.

Happy Endings

We waited a couple of days for our next load. When it came we were happy to see that it was picking up in Laredo. We've heard so much about Laredo that we were excited to finally get to see it firsthand.

What a crazy place that is! It sits right on the border of Mexico and is a go between for freight moving back and forth from the US and Mexico. American drivers take American freight bound for Mexico down to a broker and drop it off. Mexican drivers will pick it up and take it the rest of the way into Mexico. The same works in reverse for the freight coming from Mexico into the US. The only difference is that a lot of the freight coming from Mexico is destined for Canada and American drivers are allowed to deliver the freight all the way into Canada. The only thing we aren't allowed to do is pick up a load in Canada and deliver it to another location inside Canada. We must bring it back to the US.

So far, I like what I see in Texas. It's a large state and it's true that everything is bigger in Texas. Which is great because it makes it truck friendly. We have no problem finding a place to park and we don't get frowned at when we need to stop off at a Walmart for supplies. The Walmart we went to there even had a special parking areas just for big trucks. Wish they were all like that.

The load we were picking up was delivering in Canada. We took off with it and got all the way up to Indiana. I had been trying to get clearance on the load and finally the broker called me and said we weren't going to be allowed to take the load into Canada because we weren't FAST approved, or something like that. I told him we take loads all the time into Canada but he explained that with this load, the customer requires drivers to be FAST approved so that they won't get delayed when they cross the border because they needed the freight asap.

It was okay with us, it just meant a few less miles since we would now be taking the freight to the cross dock in Woodhaven, Mi and someone else would have to finish up the load. From Woodhaven we next picked up in Hayesville, Ohio and right back into Canada we went. This time to Oakville, Ontario.

Being tired from the long drive from Texas up to Michigan followed with the load back to Canada, we decided to just wait at a truck stop in Ontario to see what happened and get soe rest. We ended up being called by dispatch for help on a load picking up at a cross dock in Tonawanda, NY that was coming back into Canada to Weston, Ontario.

We didn't want the load because of the short miles so we turned it down. They kept after us and we kept saying no and they kept raising their offer price. They begged and pleaded and finally wore us down. We headed to Tonawanda to meet the other truck. We got there and discovered the other truck wasn't there yet.

We called dispatch and they said they had lost communication with the other truck but wanted us to sit there and wait. We asked what that meant, lost communication? They told us that the other truck had a team of two guys and apparently they were fighting with each other and the last phone call they had made to dispatch they had said they were going to pull over and one of the drivers was going to leave the truck. After that, they never answered the phone anymore when dispatch called them. The satellite monitoring showed that the truck was still moving towards us so they assumed that the truck would eventually show up.

After waiting about 4 hours, the truck showed up and both drivers were still in it. I didn't ask any questions, just got the freight transferred to our truck and they handed the paperwork over to us. I asked them if they had already faxed in the documentation needed to get clearance to cross the border and they just gave me a blank look. I said never mind, I'll figure it out. I made phone calls and found out that nothing had been done, so we had to get that taken care of. As soon as we were given the clearance, we headed back across the border to make the delivery.

I'm not surprised to see the guys fighting like that. I would assume that in this job it probably happens all the time. They say that carriers prefer husband wife teams or at least same household teams and I can completely understand why. Me and John have our moments out here, but because we are married, we have our battles and then we make up and life goes on. If it was a non relative you were battling with, I doubt that it would have a happy ending!

Oil Pan Damaged During Oil Change

After the parking lot fiasco where we were backed into by another trucker who failed to see us in our parking spot and tried to park in the same spot, we got another load picking up in Sandston, Va delivering in Smiths Falls, Ontario. At this rate, we should qualify as dual citizens with the US and Canada.

We again made our way into and out of Canada with no major issues. Just the usual hassles by border patrol coming back into the US. Kind of getting used to it by now.

While in Smiths Falls, we received a load offer of about 2200 loaded miles for a load that would be delivering in Laredo Texas. We were excited about the load because we haven't had the pleasure of visiting that area yet and it would be a nice change from all the Canada runs we've been doing. However, I made the rookie mistake of asking dispatch if there would be enough time on the load for us to stop and get a pm (preventive maintenance) done on the truck. We were due for an oil change. The owner of the truck has stated and it is in our contract with her that maintenance will be done every 10,000 miles. We are at that point now and if we took the long run down to Laredo, we would be over that mileage quite a bit.

Dispatch informed me that they have a policy against trucks getting maintenance done while under a load. Therefore, they said they would offer the load to someone else. I called our owner and told her about it and asked her how I should have handled the situation. She said to never tell the carrier if you plan to stop and get maintenance done. They will not like it, but it's common practice to do it, just don't tell them. She said if there's time on the load, go ahead and take the load and get the maintenance done.

I felt bad about losing a good paying load, but I'm learning. Right after that, dispatch called with another load offer, this time picking up in North Syracuse, NY and delivering in Schenectady, NY. We decided to take it and the pickup and delivery all went routinely.

After the delivery, we knew we needed to get the maintenance done. This was our first time to do maintenance on the truck so we weren't sure what to expect. We asked the owner of the truck where she wanted it done, and she said she usually used Speedco, but there wasn't any in our area. She said we could also go to a TA. We headed off to the TA and went into the shop and got the work order set up.

We pulled the truck into the shop and while they were working on it, we went into the restaurant to eat a good hot meal. We were about halfway through our meal when John's cell phone rang. It was the shop saying that there was a problem and needed him to come back over.  John went to the shop and I stayed at the table and waited for him to come back so he could finish his meal. About 10 minutes later he returned and said that the mechanic said whoever did the last oil change had twisted off the drain plug on the oil pan.

Since I didn't know what a drain plug was, this meant nothing to me. Apparently, it's kind of a big deal. We had to call the owner of the truck and see how she wanted to handle the problem. She in turn called the shop and talked to the mechanic and the end result was that  they were going to wait until the next day when one of the more qualified mechanics came in to assess the situation.

Luckily, the TA we were at had a motel attached to it, so we ended up getting a room for the night. The next day, the "more qualified" mechanic came in and said he could provide a workaround solution to get us by until we could get the truck into a repair shop. He put on a petcock, which to me looks like an outdoor water faucet handle. He completed the maintenance and we were good to do.

The owner told us that this was the second time the oil plug had been twisted off of this oil pan so it had already been tapped out and a bigger oil plug put in, so it wasn't going to be able to be done again, this time it was going to require a new oil pan. The truck has a Mercedes motor and apparently the metal that they used for the oil pan is weaker than used by some other manufacturers. She had already replaced the oil pan before, so this seemed like an ongoing problem.

She contacted Speedco who had done the prior oil change and it became a he said she said finger pointing session between them and the TA. They both blamed the problem on each other and the end result was that Speedco sent her a gift card for $200 for her troubles.

Lesson learned from this situation is that John says from now on when we are getting the maintenance done, he will stand right there and supervise the whole process to try and prevent another incident. That's about all you can do, you're really at their mercy.