Week 1 – The Omen

Week Ending 8/19/06

Loads Delivered: 1

Total Miles: 525
* Loaded: 440
* Empty: 85

Gross Pay: $212.50
* Mileage Pay: $157.50
* Accessorial: $55.00

Hours Logged: 13
* Driving: 10
* On-Duty: 3
* $/Hour $16.35

Off-Duty - Not Logged: 0
* @ Customer: 0
* In Laurinburg: 0
* Waiting Assignment: 0

All Hours: 13

Actual $/Hour: $16.35
________________________________
Load Details:

Deadhead: Gary, IN Thursday, August 17, 2006
Shipper: Ottawa, IL Thursday, August 17, 2006
Consignee: London, ON Friday, August 18, 2006
Commodity: Glass

My first week with Maverick actually began on August 12th (Saturday), when I made it home sometime after midnight, and parked truck and trailer at a Loves 10 miles from home, where Ollie’s Gal picked me up. Sunday morning I received a call that there had been a hit and run involving my truck.

The load was due in Jeffersonville, IN Monday morning, but I felt the damage to the truck would make it unsafe to continue delivery, since I would be taking it over Jelico Mountain on the TN/KY border with a front end damage. I offered to email photos to Extended Ops, but they weren’t interested in them. They did, however, insist I complete the delivery. When I refused, I was told to drive it to the Pilot station (5 miles away) to make it roadworthy. The mechanic said because of the damage to the front end and steering mechanisms, it couldn't be made roadworthy in time. Extended advised me to leave truck there and contact my DM, Dave, Monday morning.

Monday morning Dave had me leave the trailer at the Pilot for a Relay and drive the truck to the Schneider drop lot in Knoxville 25 miles away. Several weeks later I saw the truck at the Laurinburg yard, where it had been brought with a wrecker. The mechanic was making repairs in the yard, rather than the shop, because the tie rod was in such bad condition, he refused to drive it from said yard to shop (100 yards). But I was forced to drive it 30 miles (5 under a heavy load) by pressure from Extended Ops and Dave. They did not trust my opinion of the condition:

Broken Tie Rod:


I called Dave several times over the next couple of days to remind him the load was still at the Pilot and that I needed a truck. But he did not have any answers for me until Wednesday when he called early afternoon, instructing me to be at the Knoxville bus station by 6:00 pm to catch a bus to the Gary. IN yard, where I would pick up another truck. I questioned if it would not be better to rent a car, so I could load the tools and stuff I was required to carry. He told me not to worry about that because I would be routed immediately home to restock the new truck. In Week 2 you will see that it turned into 9 days, 2 trips to Canada and 10.5 hours over my 70, before I was finally routed home. When I got to the bus station there were no tickets waiting for me. Fortunately I arrived before 5:00 and was able to call Dave about the tickets before he left for the day. He told me hadn't gotten to them.

When I arrived in Gary, I picked up the truck at the Schneider yard. There were no keys, so I had to do creative locksmithing to obtain entry. There was no securement equipment, and Schneider wouldn't even give me water for the radiator. I drove it to the Maverick yard, where I met Steve, the VP of Logistics. After several phone calls, unanswered faxes from Dave, and six hours, Steve was finally able to arrange for me to go back to the Schneider yard to get the securements. By now I had been awake almost 48 hours (have you ever tried to sleep on a bus), and Dave accused me of wasting too much time in the lounge.

Rather than route me home, as promised, he assigned me this load to Ottawa and into Canada. This was my first trip to Canada and the only Canada trip I had no problems.