My Christmas Post - didn't post. Oh well.
Starting a new one.
Well Merry late Christmas!!
So, well Christmas was great. We had a smoked Rib Roast, some potatoes, salad and chocolate cream pie. Great day, really.
But, I had to get up early to be at the yard early to get to the plant - early - to - drive all day long. Story of my life. 562 miles one way, 562 miles back. Add onto it the trip to get food after I got to Brownsville. That is a drop and hook thing, you take a loaded trailer down there, you pick up an empty. This time, there were 2 empties there. One of our other drivers - no idea who- was backed into a corner in the tractor only, not hooked up to either trailer. Guessing those trailers came in after that person went to bed.
I was actually kinda let down when I saw those empties there. I was really looking forward to another one of those deals like the trip I made to South Carolina where I had to wait overnight and got a hotel room. I can justify a hotel room if I'm making $500 just waiting there for a trailer. Oh yes, I can and will. But, I got up at 7:00 am after 10 hour mandatory break, got on the road and got back here.
However. I was informed that I needed to be on the scale at 7:30 am. I have no qualms with my new manager, but obviously she is taking advantage of the "new guy". I can say that because that isn't happening with anyone else except the other new drivers. They get at least a day off in between loads, unless there are hot loads that have to be taken and us newbies aren't available.
Well I'm supposed to be in bed by now, but, I can't just come home, eat, say hi and go to sleep an hour later. I guess I could, but after being out on the road, I want to relax, get on the computer, check things out inside of a bedroom, not the inside of a sleeper.
It doesn't matter, really. Tomorrow is a shorter run. It's less than 6 hour drive and doesn't have to be at the plant until Thursday morning. If I get tired while driving, I have ample time to pull over, take a half hour nap and move on. I sometimes do that, too, if time permits. The place I"m going to tomorrow is notorious for taking it's sweet old time unloading. Like 6 hours minimum. I'm hoping to make it home Thursday night, but if they take too long, it will be moved to Friday morning. I"d like at least a day off after this next trip, but, I won't refuse whatever they/Ann asks me to do. You don't make points by telling them no.
I found out after getting there last time that the plant I am going to tomorrow has a restaurant right across the street from the entrance and yes, they encourage you to go over there and eat. This particular plant also doesn't make you get out of your truck. Meaning if you are tired, you can just sleep. I can get out my computer and do my thing. I can leave the property altogether and do whatever - within walking distance.
Lol, small town. Barnsdall, Oklahoma. I believe it's on or near Indian reservation. Whatever the case, obviously this plant is the town's livelihood. It makes wax products and the stuff I haul is an intricate part of wax making. I'm prepared for the long wait now that I know about it - nice if they at least told us newbies about stuff like this in advance. I am hoping it doesn't take more than 6 hours or it will be another night sleeping on the road somewhere on the way back. Not the end of the world, I suppose, but home time is precious to me. Vacations - another story. Then I don't want to be home, but driving for a living is not a vacation.
Anyway, I'll get there early tomorrow. I'd come home several hours but I can't bring the trailer home and now way in hell am I leaving a trailer with that stuff anywhere but perhaps at the yard.
Well, the tired buzz is catching up to me. I could go on other topics but, not today.
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Merry Christmas Eve!
I'll tell ya what. I was sweating it on a trailer showing up from Mexico on a holiday weekend, especially Christmas. Yes, folks, Mexicans celebrate Christmas, too, and they want to be home with their families for the occasion much as anyone else that loves this particular holiday. But, there's money to be made. I mean, I am going to get 15 hours of detention pay for it, so not the end of the world and frankly, I wouldn't care if they weren't going to show up for days. Except on Christmas. perhaps a few other special days too, but particularly Christmas.
Oh, BTW, it's 1 AM. I'm "never" up this late. Oh, yes I am after I quit the 12 year job. That job after it was brutal in terms of late night runs that had me up til the wee hours of the morning or had me getting out of bed at midnite, 2am, etc. I'm so glad I didn't stick with that place. Screw that junk.
I had my choice, not given by the company, they don't care how I do it. But I could have driven straight through today and get this over with, or stopped somewhere, take the 10 hour break and get back Saturday around - noonish I'm guessing. I figured I would decide once it got late (for me) and dark - which is not my favorite driving time. If it's dark, I don't want to be driving. But the closer I got to home, the more awake I became, at least tonight. So, I drove on through, got to the yard, dropped the trailer and this time, drove the tractor home. I don't need my car, I have my Jeep here and it work perfectly fine. It's not summer and hot - the AC doesn't work on it, I will get that fixed eventually, in fact, I will likely use the Jeep as a trade in on a pickup at some point, or, give it away to someone that needs reliable transportation. It still needs some work, but after I fix all of that, I may offer it to my son. He may or may not want the thing, I dunno, but I will likely offer it to him first.
I drove the tractor home because I am going to vacuum the thing out. And save the money on fuel going to and from the yard. They company doesn't care, I asked. It's a nice looking rig, too : ) Not some eyesore like the last company haha.
Well, I got home at midnight and had already determined I would likely be staying up to 2 am, that's the way it's going to roll for me. I don't just go straight to bed, almost never, unless I am exhausted. The unfortunate problem I'm having right now is that I'm wide awake.
Anyway, this morning, getting up and seeing no trailer for us sitting there, I found a dude that had come in to check pressures on the tankers. It's a transition yard from Mexico to the US. Much of the stuff has to be checked at regular intervals. I was glad to catch him while he was there, cause' he wasn't there long. Hi there, do you know if any Ethylene trailers are coming up today? Why yes, he said. What time do you think it will arrive here? Umm, about noon to 1. Okay, thanks!
So what did I do? Went to Denny's to drink some coffee and eat a light breakfast. After that, I went to an ATT store to get a charging cord. Admittedly, I had replacing my phone on my mind, the thing has been screwed up ever since I took it in to have the screen replaced the first time and I was getting tired of it. So, upon entering an empty store - everyone was at the mall I later found out - I asked for a charging cord. I stood there after looking at that cord. SOOO sick of the issues with this phone. And totally regretting that I didn't buy the insurance.
Unnm yeah, I was there, I had time, I just did it. Got an Iphone 8, replaced the Iphone 6 and wow, this phone is very nice! Love it. No huge operation changes, took a little to figure out a few things, but it works! And I am paying the monthly insurance fee. I learned my lesson on the last phone, pay the insurance. If you got to an ATT store with a messed up phone, the first thing they are going to do is look up in their system as to whether there is insurance on it, because if there is, you don't have to wait to send the phone into the repair facility, they'll just hand you over a new phone.
Then, after we got through with the first phone, I was informed that ATT was having a 2 for one deal. Buy the second phone "almost free". Well, it's just pay the monthly payment on it for 3 months and then ATT pays it off after that, on a monthly basis. So I opted to go for it for giving it to Mark and Lynnette. I bought them an I phone 4S a while back, which they are still in love with. Apparently the junk phone they had before - government paid for - was a piece of shit.
Long story short: got a new phone, had to drive over to the local mall to get the 2cd phone, which was a total mess. The entire parking lot was brimming full - Christmas shopping. I got in and out of there in a hurry. When I got back from all of that, the drivers from Mexico had arrived and had just unhooked. Got there perfect timing.
Ohhh! And when I arrived last night, this beautiful doggy greeted me after getting into the yard. I mean, let me pet her and yes- it was scraggly looking so I gave her some of my chicken dinner. In fact, I gave her half of it. And the biscuit. She scarfed all that stuff up. It was dark - so I didn't see her teats hanging down. I bid her a good night after petting her a while and got back into the truck to get on the internet. A few hours later, I got out to do some business, haha. Well, she showed up out of the blue, with two pups trailing her. Yup, that;'s when I looked much closed to see her obvious state of post-natal condition lol.
The little puppies came right up to me, scratching on my jeans and wanting attention - or food - I didn't know which so I gave them attention since I had given all the food to mama.
Anyway, I now have the hiccups and I'm getting seriously tired
I will get rid of the hiccups and go to sleep.
Oh, BTW, it's 1 AM. I'm "never" up this late. Oh, yes I am after I quit the 12 year job. That job after it was brutal in terms of late night runs that had me up til the wee hours of the morning or had me getting out of bed at midnite, 2am, etc. I'm so glad I didn't stick with that place. Screw that junk.
I had my choice, not given by the company, they don't care how I do it. But I could have driven straight through today and get this over with, or stopped somewhere, take the 10 hour break and get back Saturday around - noonish I'm guessing. I figured I would decide once it got late (for me) and dark - which is not my favorite driving time. If it's dark, I don't want to be driving. But the closer I got to home, the more awake I became, at least tonight. So, I drove on through, got to the yard, dropped the trailer and this time, drove the tractor home. I don't need my car, I have my Jeep here and it work perfectly fine. It's not summer and hot - the AC doesn't work on it, I will get that fixed eventually, in fact, I will likely use the Jeep as a trade in on a pickup at some point, or, give it away to someone that needs reliable transportation. It still needs some work, but after I fix all of that, I may offer it to my son. He may or may not want the thing, I dunno, but I will likely offer it to him first.
I drove the tractor home because I am going to vacuum the thing out. And save the money on fuel going to and from the yard. They company doesn't care, I asked. It's a nice looking rig, too : ) Not some eyesore like the last company haha.
Well, I got home at midnight and had already determined I would likely be staying up to 2 am, that's the way it's going to roll for me. I don't just go straight to bed, almost never, unless I am exhausted. The unfortunate problem I'm having right now is that I'm wide awake.
Anyway, this morning, getting up and seeing no trailer for us sitting there, I found a dude that had come in to check pressures on the tankers. It's a transition yard from Mexico to the US. Much of the stuff has to be checked at regular intervals. I was glad to catch him while he was there, cause' he wasn't there long. Hi there, do you know if any Ethylene trailers are coming up today? Why yes, he said. What time do you think it will arrive here? Umm, about noon to 1. Okay, thanks!
So what did I do? Went to Denny's to drink some coffee and eat a light breakfast. After that, I went to an ATT store to get a charging cord. Admittedly, I had replacing my phone on my mind, the thing has been screwed up ever since I took it in to have the screen replaced the first time and I was getting tired of it. So, upon entering an empty store - everyone was at the mall I later found out - I asked for a charging cord. I stood there after looking at that cord. SOOO sick of the issues with this phone. And totally regretting that I didn't buy the insurance.
Unnm yeah, I was there, I had time, I just did it. Got an Iphone 8, replaced the Iphone 6 and wow, this phone is very nice! Love it. No huge operation changes, took a little to figure out a few things, but it works! And I am paying the monthly insurance fee. I learned my lesson on the last phone, pay the insurance. If you got to an ATT store with a messed up phone, the first thing they are going to do is look up in their system as to whether there is insurance on it, because if there is, you don't have to wait to send the phone into the repair facility, they'll just hand you over a new phone.
Then, after we got through with the first phone, I was informed that ATT was having a 2 for one deal. Buy the second phone "almost free". Well, it's just pay the monthly payment on it for 3 months and then ATT pays it off after that, on a monthly basis. So I opted to go for it for giving it to Mark and Lynnette. I bought them an I phone 4S a while back, which they are still in love with. Apparently the junk phone they had before - government paid for - was a piece of shit.
Long story short: got a new phone, had to drive over to the local mall to get the 2cd phone, which was a total mess. The entire parking lot was brimming full - Christmas shopping. I got in and out of there in a hurry. When I got back from all of that, the drivers from Mexico had arrived and had just unhooked. Got there perfect timing.
Ohhh! And when I arrived last night, this beautiful doggy greeted me after getting into the yard. I mean, let me pet her and yes- it was scraggly looking so I gave her some of my chicken dinner. In fact, I gave her half of it. And the biscuit. She scarfed all that stuff up. It was dark - so I didn't see her teats hanging down. I bid her a good night after petting her a while and got back into the truck to get on the internet. A few hours later, I got out to do some business, haha. Well, she showed up out of the blue, with two pups trailing her. Yup, that;'s when I looked much closed to see her obvious state of post-natal condition lol.
The little puppies came right up to me, scratching on my jeans and wanting attention - or food - I didn't know which so I gave them attention since I had given all the food to mama.
Anyway, I now have the hiccups and I'm getting seriously tired
I will get rid of the hiccups and go to sleep.
Friday, December 22, 2017
Well, here I am, in Brownsville, Texas.
I drove straight down here after getting the truck loaded. Only stopped 15 minutes for fuel and 30 minutes for required HOS/Hours of Service break. I got lucky in Houston - it was well before rush hour and I only hit a snag going out for about 5 miles. Last two times weren't snags. They were hellacious, bumper-to-bumper traffic for 30 miles, at least.
I didn't know if other drivers were coming down here or not, but last time I was down here, there weren't any trailers available and you can't leave until one is brought up from Mexico. I figured I'd get here as fast as possible and snag one if there was one here, guaranteeing my trip home in time for Christmas.
Well, it turns out, the dude that was getting loaded in front of me when I arrived at the plant this morning was also being sent down here. Well he was 2 hours ahead of me, because that is - at the very minimum - how long it takes to load one of these tankers. We me in the parking lot as I was dropping the trailer. He beat me here, he had seen me waiting and must have asked the manager if I was also coming down here, he hightailed it here. He has a friend that I saw driving back up from Mexico. That dude informed him I was on the run down there, best get there for the only empty trailer that was available when I left.
So, he got the empty - and I am stuck here for unknown length of time. There could be an empty here before I wake up in the morning - or it could be days. Or, as the other driver feared, it's the weekend and the verge of Christmas, may not be one here until next week, after Christmas. I know it's only Friday night and Christmas is 3 days from now, but I have heard of drivers since I came to work here having to wait here for days for a trailer to show up.
Any other time of the year, I really could care less. For the money paid in detention time, which basically just means you are getting paid by the hour for waiting, it's worth waiting. For as much money as it is, I will probably make getting a hotel room a habit on any occasion where I have to wait more than the 10 hour break, unless it's only by a couple of hours. I'd do it tonight, but I have no idea about when one might arrive. Definitely spend the night in the sleeper and hope beyond hope that there is a trailer sitting here in the morning or whoever shows up that runs the place has good news that one is on the way up.
Ugh, I have to go set up my inverter, computer battery almost dead. And I may have a LOT of time here, lol. Jeopardy music begin....Okay. Done. I bought an inverter not realizing it has battery clamp hookups. Well it didn't show it on the package. I bought the smallest one they had, which was still pretty high at 750 watts. I'm just powering a computer. Anyway, I have to go hook the thing up to the truck's batteries outside and run a cord into the truck. Not a big deal, really, but a permanent truck wil have one permanently installed. I'm just hanging out until 90 days are up and see whether I make their cut. Their safety department is pretty anal about everything they want. They can't track me right now, which is probably driving them crazy. This is a rental truck, if they want a satellite link, they have to install one. They aren't going go dump that kind of money into a rental unless it's a long term situation, which it apparently is not.
Tho by now, by their statements, I should have already been in a company truck. No worries for me, this thing hauls @$$, has lots of power and is huge. I have this truck parked in the back of the empty trailer parking lot, perched with a view of the entire place. If an empty shows up, I will see it come in, or if I miss it while sleeping, Ill see it in the morning. Oh, and I have scrubbed this thing out, for the most part. Still some hidden areas left to go. Still a faint smoke smell, but nothing as atrocious as when I first stepping into this thing.
Okay, well, my main concern is getting home and when that will happen. I am on detention pay right now. As soon as I get here, if there isn't a trailer available, it's detention pay until one shows up. That's guaranteed 10 hours right off the bat. I could wait all day tomorrow and not bat an eye. Well I would just get out of here and do something, not sit in this truck. The trailer is dropped, waiting for drivers to come up and haul down into Mexico. There has to be drivers on their way, they don't have us hauling this stuff to sit in a lot. The other driver from our company is backed under the trailer that could have been mine if there had been any way to beat him here. But a 2 hour head start is impossible to beat unless the driver likes to stop a lot.
I'm just going to hold out hope, A lot of trailers are brought filled up with Ethylene on a consistent basis down here.
It's getting late, I'm tired. Time for bed.
I drove straight down here after getting the truck loaded. Only stopped 15 minutes for fuel and 30 minutes for required HOS/Hours of Service break. I got lucky in Houston - it was well before rush hour and I only hit a snag going out for about 5 miles. Last two times weren't snags. They were hellacious, bumper-to-bumper traffic for 30 miles, at least.
I didn't know if other drivers were coming down here or not, but last time I was down here, there weren't any trailers available and you can't leave until one is brought up from Mexico. I figured I'd get here as fast as possible and snag one if there was one here, guaranteeing my trip home in time for Christmas.
Well, it turns out, the dude that was getting loaded in front of me when I arrived at the plant this morning was also being sent down here. Well he was 2 hours ahead of me, because that is - at the very minimum - how long it takes to load one of these tankers. We me in the parking lot as I was dropping the trailer. He beat me here, he had seen me waiting and must have asked the manager if I was also coming down here, he hightailed it here. He has a friend that I saw driving back up from Mexico. That dude informed him I was on the run down there, best get there for the only empty trailer that was available when I left.
So, he got the empty - and I am stuck here for unknown length of time. There could be an empty here before I wake up in the morning - or it could be days. Or, as the other driver feared, it's the weekend and the verge of Christmas, may not be one here until next week, after Christmas. I know it's only Friday night and Christmas is 3 days from now, but I have heard of drivers since I came to work here having to wait here for days for a trailer to show up.
Any other time of the year, I really could care less. For the money paid in detention time, which basically just means you are getting paid by the hour for waiting, it's worth waiting. For as much money as it is, I will probably make getting a hotel room a habit on any occasion where I have to wait more than the 10 hour break, unless it's only by a couple of hours. I'd do it tonight, but I have no idea about when one might arrive. Definitely spend the night in the sleeper and hope beyond hope that there is a trailer sitting here in the morning or whoever shows up that runs the place has good news that one is on the way up.
Ugh, I have to go set up my inverter, computer battery almost dead. And I may have a LOT of time here, lol. Jeopardy music begin....Okay. Done. I bought an inverter not realizing it has battery clamp hookups. Well it didn't show it on the package. I bought the smallest one they had, which was still pretty high at 750 watts. I'm just powering a computer. Anyway, I have to go hook the thing up to the truck's batteries outside and run a cord into the truck. Not a big deal, really, but a permanent truck wil have one permanently installed. I'm just hanging out until 90 days are up and see whether I make their cut. Their safety department is pretty anal about everything they want. They can't track me right now, which is probably driving them crazy. This is a rental truck, if they want a satellite link, they have to install one. They aren't going go dump that kind of money into a rental unless it's a long term situation, which it apparently is not.
Tho by now, by their statements, I should have already been in a company truck. No worries for me, this thing hauls @$$, has lots of power and is huge. I have this truck parked in the back of the empty trailer parking lot, perched with a view of the entire place. If an empty shows up, I will see it come in, or if I miss it while sleeping, Ill see it in the morning. Oh, and I have scrubbed this thing out, for the most part. Still some hidden areas left to go. Still a faint smoke smell, but nothing as atrocious as when I first stepping into this thing.
Okay, well, my main concern is getting home and when that will happen. I am on detention pay right now. As soon as I get here, if there isn't a trailer available, it's detention pay until one shows up. That's guaranteed 10 hours right off the bat. I could wait all day tomorrow and not bat an eye. Well I would just get out of here and do something, not sit in this truck. The trailer is dropped, waiting for drivers to come up and haul down into Mexico. There has to be drivers on their way, they don't have us hauling this stuff to sit in a lot. The other driver from our company is backed under the trailer that could have been mine if there had been any way to beat him here. But a 2 hour head start is impossible to beat unless the driver likes to stop a lot.
I'm just going to hold out hope, A lot of trailers are brought filled up with Ethylene on a consistent basis down here.
It's getting late, I'm tired. Time for bed.
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Wait, I wrote out 3 paragraphs and they disappeared. Like, that hasn't happened to me in a long time on here.
Oh well. Let's see here. Well, I spent Wednesday driving about 6 hours and then the rest of the day in a hotel. It's not hindsight, but I would have preferred a bit "better" hotel room. I just couldn't find a place that had truck parking besides this place. I mean, the room was clean - sort of - but their version of remodeling was to overlap paint, overlap texturing and generally have a room that smelled bad for some reason.
I slept though. I turned the fan setting on on the window unit and put in my ear plugs and fell into deep sleep. Something woke me up around 3:00 am, but I managed to get back to sleep yet again after that. So, I found a Panera Bread company place in the huge mall behind me this morning - I needed coffee and this cheap hotel wasn't giving any either in the rooms or the office. I got my nice cuppa and headed back to the plant. I was told to go through a back gate, that had another gate and another gate, all 3 of which would have to be unlocked.
Okayyyyy.........Well whatever. I got back there and some dude was standing afar off, next to the giant Ethylene tank, that sucker went at least 80 feet up in the air - but the dude that escorted me in gave me hand motions. Pull up there, back in there. Then,. 2 guys from Airgas showed up in a pickup truck. I was slowly backing around this stuff to get into the hole. The dude walks up - you need to get your rear trailer tire slid up next to where that guy over there has his shoe. Okay. Didn't bat an eye. The other drivers have been coming in here forever, they apparently wanted to test the new driver. This new driver has been testing his backing skills for decades - for the fun of the challenge. I've backed trucks up for literally miles. And into places they didn't think it could get in there.
And I can honestly said I nailed it. Right next to his shoe, stopped just short of running over it. Got out, all the PPE garb on, hiya gents, how we doing today? But, they had it wrong. Their hose wouldn't reach the drain tube on the truck. I almost laughed at them, but thought better of it. Be nice, Ben, even if they're playing bs games with you, I thought. Me making fun of them would likely get back to the company, so I seriously bit my tongue, got in the truck, pulled up about 40 feet to get it into position and there is this dude with his foot again. Pointing down at it.
Rednecks. I got that sucker right there, yet again. I got out, yet again and then, these 2 guys that know everything couldn't figure out how to get the air driven float valve to raise up. I can't say that I knew either, I'm new to this, these guys have been doing this for years. . After I sat there and watched them fooling around with everything, I got in the tractor, called Ann, asked her to give me the phone number of someone that knows how to operate this thing. Well, Gary is right here. Gary - does know everything about this stuff. I dunno how long he's been doing it, but if you need to know something, call Gary. Gary gets on there - there are two valves on the trailer. One on the back right side and one on the front left side. You have to open both of them to allow those floats to rise up.
Floats don't rise? You ain't emptying the trailer. So, I got out, pulled them open and walaah.
These 2 dudes were good ole boys. Not bad people, in any way shape or form, but definitely rednecks and definitely of the "good ole' boy club" nature. I'll give them credit, besides not knowing how to operate the truck trailer, they knew what the hell they were doing on the plant side of it. I asked a lot of questions, cause' that was one thing they seemed to enjoy doing.
I got much more of an understanding on how to operate that truck today than I have anywhere else. I don't necessarily have to know how to operate the plant side of it, I'm finding out. In fact, contrary to claims, the guys said the drivers have never operated the plant side of the operation. How long did it take you to learn all of this? I asked. 3 years.
It doesn't take 3 years to learn that stuff. There isn't that much to it. I admit I don't understand all of it yet, but no-one is training me. I'm just trying to learn off the cuff. But there are X number of valves and there is only so much that needs to be done. There is more waiting than anything.
We were starting to wind this operation down when Ann called. I "missed" the call, cell phones not allowed in the plant, but was obvious people were doing that in their vehicles. I went inside the truck. "Are you finished unloading yet? Did you leave the plant?". No, we are getting close to done but not sure how long before I get out of here. "Oh, well I'm trying to figure out driver resources here. I have a load going down to Brownsville. I told them after we hired new drivers that I wanted all the Brownsville runs they have."
This wasn't bad news to me, I mean, I am not getting a day or two off, but I need to get some cash flowing here. And not only that, I thought, if I take this run, I should be setting myself up to be home on Christmas. I hate to see Renee home alone on Christmas. I don't want to be somewhere out on the road on Christmas, either. But I knew that was a real possibility when I signed up for this job and I'm the newbie. It's likely she couldn't find other drivers because they are taking time off.
I didn't agree right away tho. I was concerned about my hours as was she. Is there enough time to get back there, get the required 10 hour break and get to the plant by the prescribed time? What's the latest I can get there? 7:30 am. See, when these orders are placed, they are placed on contingent of the driver being at the plant at X time. There is a time factor. These particular plants don't run without Ethylene. They seem to have reserves, but they don't want to use them. Yet, they rely on rail to bring this product to them. But, when the rail doesn't show up - they are on their own time and can take up to a month to deliver - they have to have it hauled in via truck. Which is usually next day service.
After I thought about it for -- a short period of time -- she intoned that she has 10 minutes to give them an answer, if she can't do it, they go to someone else - I said yes, I should be able to get this done.
And here I am. I have to get up int 7-1/2 hours to get to the yard, hook up to a trailer and get to the plant. I'm supposed to be there an hour early, but I already told her after she said the latest was 7:30 am - when I'm actually supposed to be there - that I wouldn't make it until 7:30. Good!
I was going to drive the tractor home tonight to save on fuel costs. But, my car drives a lot faster and I wanted to get home, lol. And, it's time to go to bed : )
Oh well. Let's see here. Well, I spent Wednesday driving about 6 hours and then the rest of the day in a hotel. It's not hindsight, but I would have preferred a bit "better" hotel room. I just couldn't find a place that had truck parking besides this place. I mean, the room was clean - sort of - but their version of remodeling was to overlap paint, overlap texturing and generally have a room that smelled bad for some reason.
I slept though. I turned the fan setting on on the window unit and put in my ear plugs and fell into deep sleep. Something woke me up around 3:00 am, but I managed to get back to sleep yet again after that. So, I found a Panera Bread company place in the huge mall behind me this morning - I needed coffee and this cheap hotel wasn't giving any either in the rooms or the office. I got my nice cuppa and headed back to the plant. I was told to go through a back gate, that had another gate and another gate, all 3 of which would have to be unlocked.
Okayyyyy.........Well whatever. I got back there and some dude was standing afar off, next to the giant Ethylene tank, that sucker went at least 80 feet up in the air - but the dude that escorted me in gave me hand motions. Pull up there, back in there. Then,. 2 guys from Airgas showed up in a pickup truck. I was slowly backing around this stuff to get into the hole. The dude walks up - you need to get your rear trailer tire slid up next to where that guy over there has his shoe. Okay. Didn't bat an eye. The other drivers have been coming in here forever, they apparently wanted to test the new driver. This new driver has been testing his backing skills for decades - for the fun of the challenge. I've backed trucks up for literally miles. And into places they didn't think it could get in there.
And I can honestly said I nailed it. Right next to his shoe, stopped just short of running over it. Got out, all the PPE garb on, hiya gents, how we doing today? But, they had it wrong. Their hose wouldn't reach the drain tube on the truck. I almost laughed at them, but thought better of it. Be nice, Ben, even if they're playing bs games with you, I thought. Me making fun of them would likely get back to the company, so I seriously bit my tongue, got in the truck, pulled up about 40 feet to get it into position and there is this dude with his foot again. Pointing down at it.
Rednecks. I got that sucker right there, yet again. I got out, yet again and then, these 2 guys that know everything couldn't figure out how to get the air driven float valve to raise up. I can't say that I knew either, I'm new to this, these guys have been doing this for years. . After I sat there and watched them fooling around with everything, I got in the tractor, called Ann, asked her to give me the phone number of someone that knows how to operate this thing. Well, Gary is right here. Gary - does know everything about this stuff. I dunno how long he's been doing it, but if you need to know something, call Gary. Gary gets on there - there are two valves on the trailer. One on the back right side and one on the front left side. You have to open both of them to allow those floats to rise up.
Floats don't rise? You ain't emptying the trailer. So, I got out, pulled them open and walaah.
These 2 dudes were good ole boys. Not bad people, in any way shape or form, but definitely rednecks and definitely of the "good ole' boy club" nature. I'll give them credit, besides not knowing how to operate the truck trailer, they knew what the hell they were doing on the plant side of it. I asked a lot of questions, cause' that was one thing they seemed to enjoy doing.
I got much more of an understanding on how to operate that truck today than I have anywhere else. I don't necessarily have to know how to operate the plant side of it, I'm finding out. In fact, contrary to claims, the guys said the drivers have never operated the plant side of the operation. How long did it take you to learn all of this? I asked. 3 years.
It doesn't take 3 years to learn that stuff. There isn't that much to it. I admit I don't understand all of it yet, but no-one is training me. I'm just trying to learn off the cuff. But there are X number of valves and there is only so much that needs to be done. There is more waiting than anything.
We were starting to wind this operation down when Ann called. I "missed" the call, cell phones not allowed in the plant, but was obvious people were doing that in their vehicles. I went inside the truck. "Are you finished unloading yet? Did you leave the plant?". No, we are getting close to done but not sure how long before I get out of here. "Oh, well I'm trying to figure out driver resources here. I have a load going down to Brownsville. I told them after we hired new drivers that I wanted all the Brownsville runs they have."
This wasn't bad news to me, I mean, I am not getting a day or two off, but I need to get some cash flowing here. And not only that, I thought, if I take this run, I should be setting myself up to be home on Christmas. I hate to see Renee home alone on Christmas. I don't want to be somewhere out on the road on Christmas, either. But I knew that was a real possibility when I signed up for this job and I'm the newbie. It's likely she couldn't find other drivers because they are taking time off.
I didn't agree right away tho. I was concerned about my hours as was she. Is there enough time to get back there, get the required 10 hour break and get to the plant by the prescribed time? What's the latest I can get there? 7:30 am. See, when these orders are placed, they are placed on contingent of the driver being at the plant at X time. There is a time factor. These particular plants don't run without Ethylene. They seem to have reserves, but they don't want to use them. Yet, they rely on rail to bring this product to them. But, when the rail doesn't show up - they are on their own time and can take up to a month to deliver - they have to have it hauled in via truck. Which is usually next day service.
After I thought about it for -- a short period of time -- she intoned that she has 10 minutes to give them an answer, if she can't do it, they go to someone else - I said yes, I should be able to get this done.
And here I am. I have to get up int 7-1/2 hours to get to the yard, hook up to a trailer and get to the plant. I'm supposed to be there an hour early, but I already told her after she said the latest was 7:30 am - when I'm actually supposed to be there - that I wouldn't make it until 7:30. Good!
I was going to drive the tractor home tonight to save on fuel costs. But, my car drives a lot faster and I wanted to get home, lol. And, it's time to go to bed : )
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
This particular trip's saga moves on. I was informed, after driving another 7 hours today to get here, that they weren't fixing to unload me until 7:30 am. What? It was 1:15 pm this afternoon. I'm going to sit in a truck for 18 hours. I don't think so. She said, yup, we don't unload excepting early in the morning. Look, sweetie, I know ALL the drivers from your company. Her to me, that is, I wouldn't talk to a security guard like that, if they don't like it, they gonna get pissed and you are going to be on their "list". I wasn't starting trouble, lol, just offering the info that was given me. Okay, honey, I'll be back tomorrow at 7:30 am : )
That's about the time I decided to get a hotel room. Nothing fancy, but clean, a shower, a bed and free wifi, some TV to watch the news and basically some room to not make me feel like I'm in a little box. I can spend 10 hours in there mostly sleeping, but not 18. Screw that. I kept trying to call and text my manager, tho, before I did that. Like, some specific instructions? Some strings she might try to pull to get it unloaded? But she wasn't answering. I could get her into so much trouble for that, lol. This company wants a manager available 24 hours a day, regardless. No, I won't do that, hahah, just brought back the memory in Amarillo at orientation.
One of the drivers said he couldn't get a hold of her and I said the same thing - but we had NO idea how that was going to play out or that that was even an issue. I'm used to having a manager you can't get a hold of. Her boss went livid. I mean, they blew this up into a huge ordeal. I was like, wow! No, please let's just calm down! That wasn't intended to get her into some kind of trouble! That's the only reason I said that, no way I would turn her in. In fact, there is a lot of stuff going on that corporate has policies against, but hey, that isn't my issue. Some of the stuff these companies want you to do is really some serious control issues. I'm not going into details here, however, not worth it. Not that many reading this blog but it is public, not private.
Anyway, she did finally call back. Well, I just wanted to let you know I'm stuck here until tomorrow morning. Okay, thank you. You are getting paid for the time you have to wait. Oh really?!!!!
After that call, I figured it up: 18 hours of detention pay. That's almost $400 for sitting around doing nothing. Hotel justified, Im at an Econolodge. Got it on one of the hotel sites for $46. Not bad, not great. Get what you pay for, but there are no whores in the parking lot and there are no roaches running around. Whether there are bed bugs or not remains to be seen. The flooring is brand new, 46 inch flat screen tv, nice bathroom, working heating/cooling. Microwave and fridge. Not bad for that kind of money. I mean, there are better hotels here, but none of them had a place to park a truck that size. This trailer I'm pulling is a monster. MUCH larger than the other trailers in the yard. Apparently my manager has a problem finding people that are comfortable with that thing. The tandems are at the very back of it, meaning very wide turns, having to swing way out to not take out curbs, lights and people.
Speaking of trailers, need to go check the pressure. This ordeal is keeping me from home, but the pay negates that. And being in a hotel room further alleviates that. If they don't keep me more than 3-1/2 hours in there tomorrow, I can get home tomorrow night. Otherwise I will be sleeping out on the road somewhere in Louisiana. Anyway, that's what's going on. A 2 day trip turning into potentially 4 days, but it's enough money with detention that it all pans out.
Now, my oldest brother and his wife sent me a Pepperidge farm gift pack! That is absolutely amazing considering the tensions going on between us earlier this year after dad died. And his sickening statement that really, really pissed me off. I'm not really trying to mend anything with my middle brother, he has written my mom off and that is inexcusable. I don't want to say may he rot in hell, but I'm definitely in the arena of go jump in an icy cold lake, and that is putting it much more nicely than the thoughts that actually come with it.
How do you write your parents off? Mom is sweet, loving, gentle, kind. Just an overall wonderful person. There isn't anything in her at this point in her life that anyone would find offensive. Yet, my asshole middle brother has decided to go the same route with her that he went with my dad. Nope, I want nothing to do with him. I don't want to talk to him, I don't want to see him online - anywhere, nothing. I'm not even doing this again. I don't get it and now, I don't care if I don't get it. He can stew in his own juices. He won't be there for Christmas at my oldest bro's house, I have been invited but I doubt I will be able to go. I wish I could, tho. Even just fly in the night before, go and fly back that same day.
Whatever. Life goes on. Just trying to think when I might just ask for 3 days in a row off. I've gotten 2 without asking 3 times now. Certain things I don't want to do, and one of which is make myself look like I don't want to work just coming into a job.
Welp, I'm going to fix myself to get to thinking about heading to bed. I don't have to be there until 7:30 am, it's only 15 minutes away from here. I was looking around when I drove into this town. Where can I park a truck if I need to? Once you've been to a place, you know where you can and can't park. Until then, it's just guess work. Helps if you get there daytime so you can see around. This hotel stuck out because a truck was already parked there. Not a single other hotel in this town - and there are a lot of them - that I saw anyway- had truck parking. Not that that is surprising, I've had my issues trying to find parking places as it stands. Some hotels are truck friendly, many are not.
I dunno what else. I mean, I'm just waiting to see what I'm going to be getting for paychecks after all the orientation and traveling stuff isn't showing up on checks, and this next one, coming Friday, will be that. I dunno how good that one will be, but the next one after that? At the rate I'm going, it will be fatter than any check I've had in a long, long time. Again, I could kick myself for staying at Ferguson so long. I get loyal to a company and I invent excuses not to leave. It will get better, I keep thinking, but it didn't. It just kept getting worse. That manager can literally go screw himself, what a total a-hole.
At the home front, Donny is heading to Dallas to spend Christmas with his uncle. Rene is staying home and I hope to be there Christmas Day, for it would really suck for both of us if the house were empty. I am definitely not guaranteed Christmas Day off. .The only thing I am given is $140 for the day whether I work or not. If I work, that's on top of it, if not, that's what I get. For as much money as they are paying us here, one would think they would give a bit more for a holiday, but I'm not going to complain about it. I don't want to be on the road on Christmas Day is all I can say about that. If they have me out before or after, fine, I can deal with it.
Rene made her wonderful fruitcake- it really is, I despise fruitcake but this stuff is good - and gave me 6 loaves of it to take to work and a plastic container full of home made cookies. The loaves aren't that big, lol, it's just that it looks like a miniature loaf of break. It's soft, tender and the fruit in it is totally drunk with rum, also soft, not hard and very tasty.
She is now home alone. But, she has 3 dogs to keep her company and numerous firearms to protect herself. Firearms courtesy of me, 2 of the dogs my courtesy as well. Addler does, however, get very cranky after I"ve been gone too long. That's the report I hear. He would have expect me back today, certainly tomorrow.
I dunno what else. There's more, but I'm getting sleepy. Bedtime. Not the longest day today, but I woke up foggy this morning and it hung with me half the day. I could have slept for a couple more hours. I thought I had to get her ASAP, as the paperwork states. Obviously, they didn't need it as bad as the paperwork says they needed it. I was really getting cranky - why have to wait around here for a day and a half because of someone else's bs? ...until I found out I get paid for it. That took alllllll of that away. I have been hanging out in the hotel all day long, only left to get something to eat and go check the trailer a couple of times. Pressures have to be recorded on a graph. Every 5 hours. But I have been checking this load more frequently because of the issues at the plant. If that pressure relief valve goes on the trailer, that's it. It just keeps going from what I'm told. High dollar mount of product vented into the air and a trailer that will need serviced because of it.
Not that that would have been my fault if it did occur. But not one is going to tell me I didn't do due diligence to go out and check the thing frequently. I'll have to get up in the middle of the night to go out and check it again. Which I don't like, but I wake up every night anyway, so not that big of a deal.
Okay, I'm getting off of here.
That's about the time I decided to get a hotel room. Nothing fancy, but clean, a shower, a bed and free wifi, some TV to watch the news and basically some room to not make me feel like I'm in a little box. I can spend 10 hours in there mostly sleeping, but not 18. Screw that. I kept trying to call and text my manager, tho, before I did that. Like, some specific instructions? Some strings she might try to pull to get it unloaded? But she wasn't answering. I could get her into so much trouble for that, lol. This company wants a manager available 24 hours a day, regardless. No, I won't do that, hahah, just brought back the memory in Amarillo at orientation.
One of the drivers said he couldn't get a hold of her and I said the same thing - but we had NO idea how that was going to play out or that that was even an issue. I'm used to having a manager you can't get a hold of. Her boss went livid. I mean, they blew this up into a huge ordeal. I was like, wow! No, please let's just calm down! That wasn't intended to get her into some kind of trouble! That's the only reason I said that, no way I would turn her in. In fact, there is a lot of stuff going on that corporate has policies against, but hey, that isn't my issue. Some of the stuff these companies want you to do is really some serious control issues. I'm not going into details here, however, not worth it. Not that many reading this blog but it is public, not private.
Anyway, she did finally call back. Well, I just wanted to let you know I'm stuck here until tomorrow morning. Okay, thank you. You are getting paid for the time you have to wait. Oh really?!!!!
After that call, I figured it up: 18 hours of detention pay. That's almost $400 for sitting around doing nothing. Hotel justified, Im at an Econolodge. Got it on one of the hotel sites for $46. Not bad, not great. Get what you pay for, but there are no whores in the parking lot and there are no roaches running around. Whether there are bed bugs or not remains to be seen. The flooring is brand new, 46 inch flat screen tv, nice bathroom, working heating/cooling. Microwave and fridge. Not bad for that kind of money. I mean, there are better hotels here, but none of them had a place to park a truck that size. This trailer I'm pulling is a monster. MUCH larger than the other trailers in the yard. Apparently my manager has a problem finding people that are comfortable with that thing. The tandems are at the very back of it, meaning very wide turns, having to swing way out to not take out curbs, lights and people.
Speaking of trailers, need to go check the pressure. This ordeal is keeping me from home, but the pay negates that. And being in a hotel room further alleviates that. If they don't keep me more than 3-1/2 hours in there tomorrow, I can get home tomorrow night. Otherwise I will be sleeping out on the road somewhere in Louisiana. Anyway, that's what's going on. A 2 day trip turning into potentially 4 days, but it's enough money with detention that it all pans out.
Now, my oldest brother and his wife sent me a Pepperidge farm gift pack! That is absolutely amazing considering the tensions going on between us earlier this year after dad died. And his sickening statement that really, really pissed me off. I'm not really trying to mend anything with my middle brother, he has written my mom off and that is inexcusable. I don't want to say may he rot in hell, but I'm definitely in the arena of go jump in an icy cold lake, and that is putting it much more nicely than the thoughts that actually come with it.
How do you write your parents off? Mom is sweet, loving, gentle, kind. Just an overall wonderful person. There isn't anything in her at this point in her life that anyone would find offensive. Yet, my asshole middle brother has decided to go the same route with her that he went with my dad. Nope, I want nothing to do with him. I don't want to talk to him, I don't want to see him online - anywhere, nothing. I'm not even doing this again. I don't get it and now, I don't care if I don't get it. He can stew in his own juices. He won't be there for Christmas at my oldest bro's house, I have been invited but I doubt I will be able to go. I wish I could, tho. Even just fly in the night before, go and fly back that same day.
Whatever. Life goes on. Just trying to think when I might just ask for 3 days in a row off. I've gotten 2 without asking 3 times now. Certain things I don't want to do, and one of which is make myself look like I don't want to work just coming into a job.
Welp, I'm going to fix myself to get to thinking about heading to bed. I don't have to be there until 7:30 am, it's only 15 minutes away from here. I was looking around when I drove into this town. Where can I park a truck if I need to? Once you've been to a place, you know where you can and can't park. Until then, it's just guess work. Helps if you get there daytime so you can see around. This hotel stuck out because a truck was already parked there. Not a single other hotel in this town - and there are a lot of them - that I saw anyway- had truck parking. Not that that is surprising, I've had my issues trying to find parking places as it stands. Some hotels are truck friendly, many are not.
I dunno what else. I mean, I'm just waiting to see what I'm going to be getting for paychecks after all the orientation and traveling stuff isn't showing up on checks, and this next one, coming Friday, will be that. I dunno how good that one will be, but the next one after that? At the rate I'm going, it will be fatter than any check I've had in a long, long time. Again, I could kick myself for staying at Ferguson so long. I get loyal to a company and I invent excuses not to leave. It will get better, I keep thinking, but it didn't. It just kept getting worse. That manager can literally go screw himself, what a total a-hole.
At the home front, Donny is heading to Dallas to spend Christmas with his uncle. Rene is staying home and I hope to be there Christmas Day, for it would really suck for both of us if the house were empty. I am definitely not guaranteed Christmas Day off. .The only thing I am given is $140 for the day whether I work or not. If I work, that's on top of it, if not, that's what I get. For as much money as they are paying us here, one would think they would give a bit more for a holiday, but I'm not going to complain about it. I don't want to be on the road on Christmas Day is all I can say about that. If they have me out before or after, fine, I can deal with it.
Rene made her wonderful fruitcake- it really is, I despise fruitcake but this stuff is good - and gave me 6 loaves of it to take to work and a plastic container full of home made cookies. The loaves aren't that big, lol, it's just that it looks like a miniature loaf of break. It's soft, tender and the fruit in it is totally drunk with rum, also soft, not hard and very tasty.
She is now home alone. But, she has 3 dogs to keep her company and numerous firearms to protect herself. Firearms courtesy of me, 2 of the dogs my courtesy as well. Addler does, however, get very cranky after I"ve been gone too long. That's the report I hear. He would have expect me back today, certainly tomorrow.
I dunno what else. There's more, but I'm getting sleepy. Bedtime. Not the longest day today, but I woke up foggy this morning and it hung with me half the day. I could have slept for a couple more hours. I thought I had to get her ASAP, as the paperwork states. Obviously, they didn't need it as bad as the paperwork says they needed it. I was really getting cranky - why have to wait around here for a day and a half because of someone else's bs? ...until I found out I get paid for it. That took alllllll of that away. I have been hanging out in the hotel all day long, only left to get something to eat and go check the trailer a couple of times. Pressures have to be recorded on a graph. Every 5 hours. But I have been checking this load more frequently because of the issues at the plant. If that pressure relief valve goes on the trailer, that's it. It just keeps going from what I'm told. High dollar mount of product vented into the air and a trailer that will need serviced because of it.
Not that that would have been my fault if it did occur. But not one is going to tell me I didn't do due diligence to go out and check the thing frequently. I'll have to get up in the middle of the night to go out and check it again. Which I don't like, but I wake up every night anyway, so not that big of a deal.
Okay, I'm getting off of here.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
It's - uhhh - Tuesday night. I'm at a truckstop in a very small town named Calhoun, in Louisiana. This truckstop is rather obscure, I only found it because I was hungry one day on my former job and decided to get off the highway and see what's here. Turns out, a large truck parking lot, a convenience store, diesel fuel aisles for trucks and a restaurant that puts up some pretty good food. It's a go to place if having to stop in this area that I know there will be room for another truck, which at 7 pm on any given night, is not necessarily true at any of the big truckstops. It's very much likely that they are already completely full and good luck finding a place if you are almost out of hours.
This is why you see trucks parked on off and on ramps or wherever they can find, really Drivers want to drive out their full hours and only leave enough time for the post trip inspection and to find a place to park, which means half an hour at the end of the day at most. I've chiseled it down to 15 minutes at times.\
I didn't make it very far today. I got the call for this run last night, be on the scales at 6:30 am. Okay. I was there and I got to the rack where the truck is loaded, got the truck loaded up and then.....everything went south. This dude comes walking in with the key to my truck - they take them away from you when you park the truck now. Undoubtedly, some idiot/s came along (truck drivers) and took off with the hoses still hooked up to the truck, causing untold amounts of damage and putting the entire plant at risk of explosion. This is the world we live in today. If one person screws up, everyone pays for it. I suppose it's always been that way, but I really don't believe to the degree we see it today.
Well I got sidetracked but worth noting. He didn't give me the key and he went to the back office where the manager is. This office is a 40 foot long, explosion proof cargo container. Anyway, they talked for 20 minutes and then he came back in, sat down on a chair. Ummm, can you back that big long thing in front of that rail car over there? Gesturing to a near impossible backing maneuver that I agreed to without hesitation instantly - I love a challenge.
But it wasn't really that hard and I didn't even have to do a pull-up to correct the angle. And there it was, parked in front of this rail car. The rail car is full of the same chemical we are hauling and also was rejected by the plant it was sent too - too hot. Not exactly sure yet all of this terminology, but it means that it is getting too warm because it was in the car too long and is now heating up, causing too much vapor and therefore causing too much pressure. It was the pressure they didn't like and they had no way to cool it back down. Send it back to the plant.
It was explained to me that there is a "travel time life" for this chemical. It is down to the hour. One trailer might say 1,771 hours and another less than 1,000. It depends on the trailer and the insulation used - but now they have jackets of space between the inner tube and the outer shell. They draw the vacuum down and that insulates it. I'm no expert, just explaining it how it was explained to me. Anyway, those hours mentioned are how long this stuff can travel before it begins to heat up. And once it does that, it starts turning to vapor and the vapor causes pressure and yes, there are pressure limitations to any of these truck trailers or even the rail cars.
What they decided to do was pump the stuff into my trailer and see if it would cool down - which it didn't do. The pressure went WAY up high. Like, no thanks, I'm not hauling that high, though I never had to say that, they determined that before I even knew what was going on. You can assume that I am asking a LOT of questions to anyone that knows anything about this stuff and how it is handled.
The day went to hell after that. I mean, I can handle waiting, but for 10 hours? I was going stir crazy. They were waiting on another specific truck to show up to pump half my trailer's worth of ethylene into and then pump plant made ethylene into the rest of it to see if that would work. They wanted to deal with this rather than burn it. Oh yes, they have those giant burners you see at some plants standing way up in the sky. Well it turns out, that truck never showed up and the dude started making phone calls, first to Groendyke (100% sure if you have spent any time on an Interstate you have seen their trucks). The lady said no, that's not on our list. Then to my manager. I was sitting there listening to all of this.
The guy said, well, do you have a trailer to be loaded for Baker for the 19th? No, she said, but she started looking. Nope, I have one for today, the 20th, but I didn't have one for the 19th. Well, the problem with that is that today IS the 19th, not the 20th, she had her days messed up and I can only imagine the mess she must have had to clean up with that one, besides what happened here today. Anyway, she found a truck to come get loaded. Well I dunno what that driver was doing, but it doesn't take 2 and a half freaking hours to get to that plant.
The workers eventually gave up on it and hooked the rail car up to my tanker through their rather elaborate system of pipes and it...took...forever. Hour after hour. Driver after driver coming in, getting loaded on the regular rack. I was getting tired of talking. I mean, I like to talk, but these drivers would get in, sit down and start it up. This went on for 10 solid hours. I was dead. I didn't sleep that well last night, it happens often enough and I don't even care anymore except making for a long day and likely not wanting to talk to 10 different people for that length of time. But, I didn't want to be rude and we are in this confined space. You are not allowed to walk around the facility unless you are using a port-a-potty or going to the designated smoking area.
Whatever. They finally called it good to go. Are you sure? Cause' I sure has heck don't want problems on the road. Yup, the pressure is holding steady. I was a bit nervous about that, but I left that area, went to their scales, weight out at 77,940 pounds, parked to go get my paperwork from inside but instead went to the back of the trailer, opened up the doors and looked at the gauges. 33 inches and 22 pounds of pressure. The pressure is what I'm interested in, I don't care about the inches. I don't know if I should be, but that's just the liquid level. Nobody cares about that, it's the vapor pressure that is the concern. Cause' honey, if it gets to a certain level, the release valve will open and it won't stop. Not only do you lose a huge amount of money into the thin blue air, the trailer has to be put out of service, sent into a shop and a large bill attached to repairing it. I'm looking to avoid that at all costs. They would rather you find a place away from civilization or at least any people and vent it. It's highly flammable, explosive I am told and a cigarette butte thrown out a car window can ignite it.
Moving on. I have a little while left. I was trying to figure out where to connect my new inverter, couldn't find anything, couldn't find anything on the internet besides a bunch of people that want to make videos to assert how much they know but impart zero knowledge to you and then decided to just hook it up to the main batteries so I can run my computer. Turns out the computer's power cord reaches that far. I couldn't fire this laptop up. It was at full charge when I shut it down so I'm a bit perplexed how it got to zero power.
Anyway, I did end up visiting my friend in Atlanta on Saturday night, on the way back from a plant. It worked out well for my hours of service. I didn't have to be back by any particular time and I knew I wouldn't be back before Sunday evening, so what the heck. The toddler remembered me after about 5 minutes. We hadn't seen each other since they left - which has been over a year now. It was very cool to hang out with them, I took them out to a steak house and we had a great time for a couple of hours.
The problem, however, was the places she said I could park a truck? No truck parking signs everywhere. These were within a stone's throw of her townhouse. Uhh I didn't say I was there on texting, I just started driving around, looking for a place. It was Saturday night, surely there must be some business, somewhere, that is shut down for the weekend. I struck gold when I turned into an industrial park - the entrance directly across the street from 6 Flags delivery entrance. I drove through there once and found a huge place for trailers, but no trucks in there and green lights flashing at dock bays. Meaning to me I couldn't park here.
My second run through, I saw a "truck entrance" at a Christian day school center. Huh? I drove in there. A bunch of trailers in the back, but the entire place was deserted. I had found my parking spot. It was cold enough outside - 34 degrees - the entire trailer iced over. This stuff is 130 degrees below zero, it is going to greet outside cold weather with open arms. Taylor, can you come pick me up? She was there in 2 minutes. I had found a place only a quarter mile from her house.
I got to their place, greeted everyone, and then we went out to eat. It was about a 3 hour visit. Much too short, but I couldn't spend the night, I needed to stay with the truck. You have to check the pressures every 5 hours, and anyway, I was leaving early. 6 am. She wouldn't have wanted to get up to take me back there, she has a routine with those kids and I wanted to respect that.
It was a great visit, it was so good to see them, I can only wish they can come back sometime soon. It will be a whole different lifestyle than what I have now, but that is the lifestyle I was living with before they left.
Okay. I"m running out of steam and so much I want to write. But, the next shocker for me: my brother actually texted me, thanking me for the Omaha Steaks! I just can't go into all of that right now, but I will say that he went into the fact that he is a juror on a case about a man that left his 2 year old son in a car in Phoenix in the hot summer for 2-1/2 hours. The kid died. My bro would only give me info that the news has already reported, as such as he is bound to do so. Didn't try to pry him for more info, I thought cool, he's actually talking to me. I might expand on all of that on a future post, but it's past my bedtime now, which isn't a big deal. I can go to bed an hour late and be fine the next day.
There's more, much more actually, but this fatigue has suddenly caught up with me. I learned long ago, when you get hit with that? You have a window of opportunity to go to sleep. Maybe half an hour or so. If you stay up beyond that, you are likely not going to have a very good night's sleep. It's taking me time to get used to the feel of sleeping with a truck engine on, but I am not going to turn the truck off either when it's hot, warm or cold. Right now, it's muggy and warm outside, which is amazing being we are in December.
Well, Merry Christmas to whoever reads this and I will post again soon.
This is why you see trucks parked on off and on ramps or wherever they can find, really Drivers want to drive out their full hours and only leave enough time for the post trip inspection and to find a place to park, which means half an hour at the end of the day at most. I've chiseled it down to 15 minutes at times.\
I didn't make it very far today. I got the call for this run last night, be on the scales at 6:30 am. Okay. I was there and I got to the rack where the truck is loaded, got the truck loaded up and then.....everything went south. This dude comes walking in with the key to my truck - they take them away from you when you park the truck now. Undoubtedly, some idiot/s came along (truck drivers) and took off with the hoses still hooked up to the truck, causing untold amounts of damage and putting the entire plant at risk of explosion. This is the world we live in today. If one person screws up, everyone pays for it. I suppose it's always been that way, but I really don't believe to the degree we see it today.
Well I got sidetracked but worth noting. He didn't give me the key and he went to the back office where the manager is. This office is a 40 foot long, explosion proof cargo container. Anyway, they talked for 20 minutes and then he came back in, sat down on a chair. Ummm, can you back that big long thing in front of that rail car over there? Gesturing to a near impossible backing maneuver that I agreed to without hesitation instantly - I love a challenge.
But it wasn't really that hard and I didn't even have to do a pull-up to correct the angle. And there it was, parked in front of this rail car. The rail car is full of the same chemical we are hauling and also was rejected by the plant it was sent too - too hot. Not exactly sure yet all of this terminology, but it means that it is getting too warm because it was in the car too long and is now heating up, causing too much vapor and therefore causing too much pressure. It was the pressure they didn't like and they had no way to cool it back down. Send it back to the plant.
It was explained to me that there is a "travel time life" for this chemical. It is down to the hour. One trailer might say 1,771 hours and another less than 1,000. It depends on the trailer and the insulation used - but now they have jackets of space between the inner tube and the outer shell. They draw the vacuum down and that insulates it. I'm no expert, just explaining it how it was explained to me. Anyway, those hours mentioned are how long this stuff can travel before it begins to heat up. And once it does that, it starts turning to vapor and the vapor causes pressure and yes, there are pressure limitations to any of these truck trailers or even the rail cars.
What they decided to do was pump the stuff into my trailer and see if it would cool down - which it didn't do. The pressure went WAY up high. Like, no thanks, I'm not hauling that high, though I never had to say that, they determined that before I even knew what was going on. You can assume that I am asking a LOT of questions to anyone that knows anything about this stuff and how it is handled.
The day went to hell after that. I mean, I can handle waiting, but for 10 hours? I was going stir crazy. They were waiting on another specific truck to show up to pump half my trailer's worth of ethylene into and then pump plant made ethylene into the rest of it to see if that would work. They wanted to deal with this rather than burn it. Oh yes, they have those giant burners you see at some plants standing way up in the sky. Well it turns out, that truck never showed up and the dude started making phone calls, first to Groendyke (100% sure if you have spent any time on an Interstate you have seen their trucks). The lady said no, that's not on our list. Then to my manager. I was sitting there listening to all of this.
The guy said, well, do you have a trailer to be loaded for Baker for the 19th? No, she said, but she started looking. Nope, I have one for today, the 20th, but I didn't have one for the 19th. Well, the problem with that is that today IS the 19th, not the 20th, she had her days messed up and I can only imagine the mess she must have had to clean up with that one, besides what happened here today. Anyway, she found a truck to come get loaded. Well I dunno what that driver was doing, but it doesn't take 2 and a half freaking hours to get to that plant.
The workers eventually gave up on it and hooked the rail car up to my tanker through their rather elaborate system of pipes and it...took...forever. Hour after hour. Driver after driver coming in, getting loaded on the regular rack. I was getting tired of talking. I mean, I like to talk, but these drivers would get in, sit down and start it up. This went on for 10 solid hours. I was dead. I didn't sleep that well last night, it happens often enough and I don't even care anymore except making for a long day and likely not wanting to talk to 10 different people for that length of time. But, I didn't want to be rude and we are in this confined space. You are not allowed to walk around the facility unless you are using a port-a-potty or going to the designated smoking area.
Whatever. They finally called it good to go. Are you sure? Cause' I sure has heck don't want problems on the road. Yup, the pressure is holding steady. I was a bit nervous about that, but I left that area, went to their scales, weight out at 77,940 pounds, parked to go get my paperwork from inside but instead went to the back of the trailer, opened up the doors and looked at the gauges. 33 inches and 22 pounds of pressure. The pressure is what I'm interested in, I don't care about the inches. I don't know if I should be, but that's just the liquid level. Nobody cares about that, it's the vapor pressure that is the concern. Cause' honey, if it gets to a certain level, the release valve will open and it won't stop. Not only do you lose a huge amount of money into the thin blue air, the trailer has to be put out of service, sent into a shop and a large bill attached to repairing it. I'm looking to avoid that at all costs. They would rather you find a place away from civilization or at least any people and vent it. It's highly flammable, explosive I am told and a cigarette butte thrown out a car window can ignite it.
Moving on. I have a little while left. I was trying to figure out where to connect my new inverter, couldn't find anything, couldn't find anything on the internet besides a bunch of people that want to make videos to assert how much they know but impart zero knowledge to you and then decided to just hook it up to the main batteries so I can run my computer. Turns out the computer's power cord reaches that far. I couldn't fire this laptop up. It was at full charge when I shut it down so I'm a bit perplexed how it got to zero power.
Anyway, I did end up visiting my friend in Atlanta on Saturday night, on the way back from a plant. It worked out well for my hours of service. I didn't have to be back by any particular time and I knew I wouldn't be back before Sunday evening, so what the heck. The toddler remembered me after about 5 minutes. We hadn't seen each other since they left - which has been over a year now. It was very cool to hang out with them, I took them out to a steak house and we had a great time for a couple of hours.
The problem, however, was the places she said I could park a truck? No truck parking signs everywhere. These were within a stone's throw of her townhouse. Uhh I didn't say I was there on texting, I just started driving around, looking for a place. It was Saturday night, surely there must be some business, somewhere, that is shut down for the weekend. I struck gold when I turned into an industrial park - the entrance directly across the street from 6 Flags delivery entrance. I drove through there once and found a huge place for trailers, but no trucks in there and green lights flashing at dock bays. Meaning to me I couldn't park here.
My second run through, I saw a "truck entrance" at a Christian day school center. Huh? I drove in there. A bunch of trailers in the back, but the entire place was deserted. I had found my parking spot. It was cold enough outside - 34 degrees - the entire trailer iced over. This stuff is 130 degrees below zero, it is going to greet outside cold weather with open arms. Taylor, can you come pick me up? She was there in 2 minutes. I had found a place only a quarter mile from her house.
I got to their place, greeted everyone, and then we went out to eat. It was about a 3 hour visit. Much too short, but I couldn't spend the night, I needed to stay with the truck. You have to check the pressures every 5 hours, and anyway, I was leaving early. 6 am. She wouldn't have wanted to get up to take me back there, she has a routine with those kids and I wanted to respect that.
It was a great visit, it was so good to see them, I can only wish they can come back sometime soon. It will be a whole different lifestyle than what I have now, but that is the lifestyle I was living with before they left.
Okay. I"m running out of steam and so much I want to write. But, the next shocker for me: my brother actually texted me, thanking me for the Omaha Steaks! I just can't go into all of that right now, but I will say that he went into the fact that he is a juror on a case about a man that left his 2 year old son in a car in Phoenix in the hot summer for 2-1/2 hours. The kid died. My bro would only give me info that the news has already reported, as such as he is bound to do so. Didn't try to pry him for more info, I thought cool, he's actually talking to me. I might expand on all of that on a future post, but it's past my bedtime now, which isn't a big deal. I can go to bed an hour late and be fine the next day.
There's more, much more actually, but this fatigue has suddenly caught up with me. I learned long ago, when you get hit with that? You have a window of opportunity to go to sleep. Maybe half an hour or so. If you stay up beyond that, you are likely not going to have a very good night's sleep. It's taking me time to get used to the feel of sleeping with a truck engine on, but I am not going to turn the truck off either when it's hot, warm or cold. Right now, it's muggy and warm outside, which is amazing being we are in December.
Well, Merry Christmas to whoever reads this and I will post again soon.
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