I ended up sitting in Oklahoma City all freakin' weekend. So much for keeping me in mind, huh? Anyways, I woke up early on Monday morning and headed back over to the Con-way yard to check on empties. I ended up finding one in the door that was verified empty. After grabbing it I went back to the Petro to await a load, which I suspected would take a matter of an hour or so. I finally got about 40 minutes later. I was directed to head to Wichita, KS to grab a load out of the Coleman plant there. Yes, the camping supplier place. I opted to go back in and fight with the ATM over my pin again as I suspected I would need money for the I-35 toll between the border and southern Wichita. 10 minutes later I admitted defeat and decided to leave.
I checked my maps and set my GPS unit to avoid tolls and found I could easily take I-35 north to the first exit inside of the border of Kansas. I would then jump US 169 west and take US 81 north some 40 miles, head back east and catch I-135. It only added about 13 miles and 10 minutes driving time.. so it ultimately worked out.
I managed to get to the plant about an hour early. They were nice about it and let me back into the dock to await my 1230pm appointment. They started loading me with styrofoam coolers around 100pm and had me loaded at 200pm. Not too bad. I then had to head over to the other side of the plant with the paperwork given to me by the dock guy to be dispatched. Never done that before but the process was painful. The guy apparently gave me what appeared to be a packing slip with important info and dispatch placed/translated it into a bill of lading. I think I was finally out of there around 230pm.
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I ended up making it down to the Lancaster, TX to stop for the night. I was tired well before then thanks to the early start to get my trailer but I didn't want to leave myself with over 500 miles left on Tuesday. The 400am start was not on my preferred agenda either. However, between Mary and my mom calling me they kept me going. I think I finally got to the Lancaster terminal around 1030pm or so and immediately went to bed after a quick dinner.
Tuesday started out at 730am... not the optimal start time but not 400am either. After a quick fuel up and breakfast I was off. The drive was rather bleak and dreary. I don't think i've ever gone without seeing sun for more than 2 or 3 days.. but I don't think i've seen the sun since I left Phoenix to be honest. I had some 400 miles to get there and expected to get there somewhere around 200pm. It was due a 300pm so I was well ahead of schedule.
The drive was boring as usual after San Antonio. I expected to hit SOME traffic through there but it was flowing as well as could be and despite a few people that don't know how to merge and others who felt that slamming their brakes on in front of me was a good idea it was a pretty decent drive. Being that I was out of food I made a quick pitstop at Walmart in San Antonio before heading off. The final stop was right inside the city limits of Laredo to grab some subway as I really wasn't in the mood to cook. And, being that I had well over 1500 Pilot point, a free sandwich was a good idea in my eyes. I have to say though, that Pilot in Laredo is one of the rattiest Pilots i've seen short of Las Vegas, NV and Charlotte, NC. I don't suspect i'll be stopping there again.
After arriving around 230pm or so I went through or normal truck inspection, which took about a half hour or more thanks to only 1 inspector manning the station. I started to park my trailer in the southbound area of the lot and was sent a message containing directions to the 3rd party logistics company who is responsible for getting the trailer into Mexico for the final destination. As it turned out, since I was #42 on the board I was going to be making the delivery to the logistics co. Wonderful. These places are always so cramped with little room to maneuver. I really hate Laredo. By the time I found this out it was 315pm MST. The dispatcher at the window suggested taking it over on Wednesday morning by 700am MST as by the time I got there on Tuesday, near closing time, I would most likely be turned away. That worked for me, despite not being able to sleep in as I wanted. I was told the opened at 800am CST so I planned to get up at 700am CST, take a quick shower, and head over to the company. Apparently fate had other plans.
I slept wonderfully but found myself waking up at 830am CST. I had apparently shut my alarm off and gone back to bed... if it even went off. I'm not sure which happened. Anyways, I rolled out of the yard having been awake about 4 minutes. And, with no coffee in my system it was going to be a rough morning. As it turns out, I rolled in right at 900am CST to find the main guy was just opening the place. 800am huh? Yeah, so, that late wake up wasn't too bad I guess.
I rolled in and was the first to check in while I ended up being the last to get into the yard. There were 4 trucks total waiting to get in. The first ended up needing to be unloaded to their docks. He tried to maneuver around a huge sink hole to get back against the dock but no matter how he maneuvered he was worried he would hit that sink hole and roll, and came close a few times. The 2nd was one of my companies daycab drivers. He rolled in and was able to turn around for a straight line back so he could unload the trailer and began spotting the 1st driver. The 3rd was a UPS driver and was in and out in a flash, only needing 3 pallets to be taken off the truck. The final was me. I rolled in and had pictures of the load taken, then was directed to back into a spot parallel to the fence. It appeared easy but, after some thought and aid from the other 2 who needed a break, suggested I take it from the street. So, after 20 minutes of blocking the crossing of the street I was able to successfully get into the yard without hitting the fence or anything else in the way, including trees, telephone poles, and yellow concrete poles. It was a genuine pain in the ass.
After, I returned back to the terminal to bide my time. I was #17 on the board so I figured I had a while to go. That was at 900am. At 1230pm i'm still 14. I'm not very optimistic i'm going to get out of here today. I'm hoping I get something going west, however, as I'd like to get through home if even for a 10 hour break.
I checked my maps and set my GPS unit to avoid tolls and found I could easily take I-35 north to the first exit inside of the border of Kansas. I would then jump US 169 west and take US 81 north some 40 miles, head back east and catch I-135. It only added about 13 miles and 10 minutes driving time.. so it ultimately worked out.
I managed to get to the plant about an hour early. They were nice about it and let me back into the dock to await my 1230pm appointment. They started loading me with styrofoam coolers around 100pm and had me loaded at 200pm. Not too bad. I then had to head over to the other side of the plant with the paperwork given to me by the dock guy to be dispatched. Never done that before but the process was painful. The guy apparently gave me what appeared to be a packing slip with important info and dispatch placed/translated it into a bill of lading. I think I was finally out of there around 230pm.
View Larger Map
I ended up making it down to the Lancaster, TX to stop for the night. I was tired well before then thanks to the early start to get my trailer but I didn't want to leave myself with over 500 miles left on Tuesday. The 400am start was not on my preferred agenda either. However, between Mary and my mom calling me they kept me going. I think I finally got to the Lancaster terminal around 1030pm or so and immediately went to bed after a quick dinner.
Tuesday started out at 730am... not the optimal start time but not 400am either. After a quick fuel up and breakfast I was off. The drive was rather bleak and dreary. I don't think i've ever gone without seeing sun for more than 2 or 3 days.. but I don't think i've seen the sun since I left Phoenix to be honest. I had some 400 miles to get there and expected to get there somewhere around 200pm. It was due a 300pm so I was well ahead of schedule.
The drive was boring as usual after San Antonio. I expected to hit SOME traffic through there but it was flowing as well as could be and despite a few people that don't know how to merge and others who felt that slamming their brakes on in front of me was a good idea it was a pretty decent drive. Being that I was out of food I made a quick pitstop at Walmart in San Antonio before heading off. The final stop was right inside the city limits of Laredo to grab some subway as I really wasn't in the mood to cook. And, being that I had well over 1500 Pilot point, a free sandwich was a good idea in my eyes. I have to say though, that Pilot in Laredo is one of the rattiest Pilots i've seen short of Las Vegas, NV and Charlotte, NC. I don't suspect i'll be stopping there again.
After arriving around 230pm or so I went through or normal truck inspection, which took about a half hour or more thanks to only 1 inspector manning the station. I started to park my trailer in the southbound area of the lot and was sent a message containing directions to the 3rd party logistics company who is responsible for getting the trailer into Mexico for the final destination. As it turned out, since I was #42 on the board I was going to be making the delivery to the logistics co. Wonderful. These places are always so cramped with little room to maneuver. I really hate Laredo. By the time I found this out it was 315pm MST. The dispatcher at the window suggested taking it over on Wednesday morning by 700am MST as by the time I got there on Tuesday, near closing time, I would most likely be turned away. That worked for me, despite not being able to sleep in as I wanted. I was told the opened at 800am CST so I planned to get up at 700am CST, take a quick shower, and head over to the company. Apparently fate had other plans.
I slept wonderfully but found myself waking up at 830am CST. I had apparently shut my alarm off and gone back to bed... if it even went off. I'm not sure which happened. Anyways, I rolled out of the yard having been awake about 4 minutes. And, with no coffee in my system it was going to be a rough morning. As it turns out, I rolled in right at 900am CST to find the main guy was just opening the place. 800am huh? Yeah, so, that late wake up wasn't too bad I guess.
I rolled in and was the first to check in while I ended up being the last to get into the yard. There were 4 trucks total waiting to get in. The first ended up needing to be unloaded to their docks. He tried to maneuver around a huge sink hole to get back against the dock but no matter how he maneuvered he was worried he would hit that sink hole and roll, and came close a few times. The 2nd was one of my companies daycab drivers. He rolled in and was able to turn around for a straight line back so he could unload the trailer and began spotting the 1st driver. The 3rd was a UPS driver and was in and out in a flash, only needing 3 pallets to be taken off the truck. The final was me. I rolled in and had pictures of the load taken, then was directed to back into a spot parallel to the fence. It appeared easy but, after some thought and aid from the other 2 who needed a break, suggested I take it from the street. So, after 20 minutes of blocking the crossing of the street I was able to successfully get into the yard without hitting the fence or anything else in the way, including trees, telephone poles, and yellow concrete poles. It was a genuine pain in the ass.
After, I returned back to the terminal to bide my time. I was #17 on the board so I figured I had a while to go. That was at 900am. At 1230pm i'm still 14. I'm not very optimistic i'm going to get out of here today. I'm hoping I get something going west, however, as I'd like to get through home if even for a 10 hour break.