This morning's drive to Chicago, IL didn't happen. I arrived at the hours in the wee morning hours only to be told by Mr. J (night dispatcher) that I was the 2nd guy to be assigned to the delivery location in Chicago. Somebody took the trailer before the other driver and I arrived at the warehouse. So, since there was no other freight at the moment, I left for home after spending a short amount of time in the truck in the hopes that something would arrive before I decided to depart for home.
Around 5:00 AM, Mr. T (day dispatcher) called and asked me if I could deliver to Racine, WI. Apparently the assigned driver didn't show up when he was supposed to. Oops. After Racine, I was scheduled for 3-stops for tomorrow morning in Iowa. Since the trailer, wasn't yet loaded, I headed home. In the early afternoon hours I returned only to find out that the trailer still wasn't loaded (I was under the impression that it would be ready by noon). Sigh. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then decided to head back home to grab some shorts. I found out that shorts are OK to wear as long as they are presentable and look professional. Back at the warehouse, the trailer still wasn't quite finished. Finally around 2:45 PM it was done. Now all that was needed was for a spotter to pull the trailer from the dock at the warehouse and drop it on the lot for me to hook to. Sounds simple enough....One hour later the trailer was finally out of the dock and ready for me to pick up.
It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day. Great for driving! I made it to my 1st stop and parked for the night around 9:30 PM. I then informed Mr. J (night dispatcher) that I would be on time for my first stop but would not for my 2nd and perhaps 3rd stop. The reason being is that my 10-hour restart would be completed at 7:30 AM tomorrow morning. Therefore, while I could unload the trailer for my 1st appointment (6:00 AM), I couldn't start driving until 7:30 AM and my next appointment (at 8:00 AM) was at least one hour away.
It looks like my company and the spotters (different company) need to fine-tune their codes as to when a trailer is to be pulled from the dock. My suggestion is to setup a special short code so that when the spotter sees that on the computer, they immediately make that coded trailer a priority so that the driver assigned to that trailer can be on their way ASAP. I'm sure they have already thought of that (or something like that) and are in the process of implementing it.
Tomorrow should be a carbon copy of today--hot, sunny and great driving weather!
miles driven = 353
11:28:44 PM
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