Once we got our windshield fixed, we received our next load opportunity. The pickup was in Jamaica, New York. For those who aren't familiar with the state of New York (including myself), Jamaica is where JFK airport is located. We have picked up at airports before, but have never been to JFK. Traffic cooperated up until we ran into construction, which closed two lanes. Merging traffic and the closure of two lanes soon had us in traffic for about 1/2 hour. We called dispatch and let them know we were in traffic but we were still able to make it on time.
When we first accepted the load, we hadn't realized there were three stops. The only other time we've had multiple stops are when we head into Canada and customs is considered a stop, other than that our stops have been just one. The first was to pick up paper work just north of the airport and then the other two were at two different locations at the airport. I was driving so Jim got his exercise that day, finding the correct doors to go into to find out where they wanted us.
We picked up the paperwork on time and then went to the first pickup. We were there on time but they were not quite ready for us. We have found out that we carry our CDLs when we pickup or deliver because some customers want to see your id and always at the airport and military bases. In talking to dispatch, each stop we did a departure call. Before we called them we weren't sure of the procedure for multiple stops and also weren't sure about the paperwork which we found out, it was up to us. We could do it all on one BOL sheet or do it on two and put the same BOL number on both sheets and send them boh in.
Our third stop was snug. We had to pull onto a road to pull the truck into the dock, tight squeeze. The third stop was another ground carrier and one of the guys on the dock said, "You have a great halloween costume." Jim and I appreciated his sense of humor. So far we have had good experiences at the airports and enjoy watching the airplanes as we wait. After we were loaded and checked and double checked the paperwork and airbill numbers, we were off to deliver in West Virginia.
We left the airport around 4:45, imagine that, traffic in New York City at 4:45! As crazy as we thought it would be, we were not in it as long as we were on the way there. It was moving at about 15 mph, but it was moving. We were merging from traffic into traffic and the truck decided to make a sound like we were dropping a ton of bricks (Jim said it was like someone was hammering on the truck) and then it wouldn't move. I gave it gas but it acted like it was in neutral. We moved it from drive to neutral back to drive, no go. We moved it from drive to neutral, to reverse, to neutral and back to drive. It finally took off. My heart jumped, imagine a stopped truck in the middle of New York traffic. I was so glad that we got it going again. It still made some noise as we stopped but not everytime that we stopped and never made the noise as long as we were moving. We thought that it was probably just because we had been in such start and stop traffic there and back, we thought maybe the truck was just tired of the traffic.
Off we went to West Virginia, even though the sun had been shining and the snow had melted we saw many downed trees on the side of the road as we went through Maryland and Pennsylvania. None of them were on the road, thank goodness but there were sure a lot of them along side of the road. I can't imagine what it looked like the day after the storm. Of course as usual, the scenery was spectacular and even once the sun went down, the moon was so bright you could still see the magnificent scenery. Jim was sleeping, so we didn't get any pictures on the way to West Virginia or back because he was driving and I was sleeping.
Our drop off in West Virginia was another easy one, at least for me, Jim unloaded it while I slept. He did have a little difficulty finding where we were supposed to be, he went to one place and they told him another and he went over to the other place and the guy told him it was supposed to go somewhere else in the facility. The last guy was wonderful and told Jim that he could just pull into the dock and he would make sure that it got to the right place. I think he kind of felt sorry for us that we had been sent in the wrong direction and it was about 4 am. Jim said that the man needed an award, if we had any to give out. He was really nice and went out of his way to help us, we really appreciated his thoughtfulness and kindness!
We had been predispatched on another load, so off to Maryland we went. The load was a temperature control load that paid well but was a short one and went from Baltimore to Frederick, Maryland. The pickup was near the stadium where the Ravens play. We've only picked up and/or delivered in the midst of a city just a couple of times. Usually we are in an industrial area on the outskirts, this pickup took us right into the city. Jim took quite a few pictures since the pickup was a time when both of us were awake. I told him that we have been taking lots of countryside pictures and I thought we should take some of city landscapes and places too. We both grew up in small communities, so technically the city life is just as new to us as the countryside is, so this time there are more pictures of city life driving.
Our pickup was scheduled for 1:00 pm and we arrived at 12:00. They weren't quite ready for us, so Jim took a nap and I caught up on facebook and read a little. The temp in the box was set for 64, which was a pretty easy temp to reach since the outside temperature was 67. We had turned it on a few hours before we arrived, just in case but knew it wouldn't take to long to get it to the temp. It didn't take anytime at all to get the 6 pallets on the truck and they were heavy enough and tall enough that the load bars held them tightly in place. On the dock, we ran into a couple of different personalities. One person was get it moving, do this, do that, no need for pleasantries, but he got the job done and then the other man got the job done and was able to have a pleasant conversation with us. We really appreciate the friendliness of the dock workers and enjoy talking to them. Their friendliness makes our day!
Off we went to deliver just 50 miles up the road. We broke the seal and backed into the dock. When we got onto the dock, the man handed Jim the pallet jack and proceeded talking to me about the paperwork. Generally Jim and I usually help get things on and off the truck but this time it was kind of funny because we usually help unload or load and we had not had any of our customers expect us to take it off the truck by ourselves. Not a problem, just that it never happened to us quite like that and truth be told, that is just the way he has probably always done it. Jim unloaded and I had a nice conversation with him about what we do and he shared how often they use FedExCC a week and where they got freight from and what cities they shipped to and from. He also shared that he rarely saw the same team and he knew why because he had talked to the other teams that had been there. He told us to have a good trip and we were off.
The next load was also one that we were dispatched on. We were pretty excited about it, it was something we had never done before and were glad to have something new to look forward to. One part of it was driving in downtown New York City. I know, this is not something very many truck drivers look forward to, but we thought that it would be an experience we would probably never forget. The load that we were carrying was also something we had never carried before. The not so new part for us was that it would be a secure load which is why I am not sharing anything else about it. So, we headed in the direction of our pickup.
I decided that I could use a pickmeup from McDonald's, a nice diet coke for the road. We were on US Route 15 and I kept thinking, I should run into one pretty soon. Well, first of all I'm never sure if they have truck parking or not, but have learned that most of them have enough space that we can park our straight truck in some out of the way parking spots or in a parking lot of a shopping center behind them. I passed one without realizing it until I was already by it and thought, there will be another one soon. I drove for a while and decided to get off an exit. Once I got off the exit it said that McDonald's was three miles away. Not bad I thought because we had enough time that we would actually be staying at a truck stop because the load didn't pick up til the next morning. Well, three miles was perfectly all right and then I figured out that I was in Gettysberg. I hadn't really paid much attention other than the McDonald's sign when I got off. I drove through the battlefield and then hit downtown where I decided to follow the highway instead of going down streets not knowing if they were truck friendly. Well, I never did find the McDonald's and then wasn't sure if I was heading in the right direction. Thank goodness for the GPS for getting me back on track. Turns out that Gettysberg is on the business route 15, so it just took me back to the regular route by just turning down another road. Still....no McDonald's, on down the highway I went.
I finally went up the road just a ways and found one that was just off the highway. I got up to the stop light and the truck started in, with the banging and not moving when you pushed on the accelerator. We got it going again and went to McDonald's and decided that we should call Expediter Services and see what we should do. Jim called and we tried to take out the transmission fuse and let it reset to see if that would do the trick. We were hoping that the fuse would do the trick. Not only were we excited about the load but we also needed the load since we had already missed having a load on Monday and a short load doesn't bring much income for a day's work. We wanted the truck fixed but were not looking forward to waiting around until it was fixed. We also knew that if the fuse wasn't it, then we would have to take it to the dealership which we knew would be at least a day's wait until we would be able to get it in.
After we placed the fuse back in, we left in the direction of our pickup. We didn't even make it to the highway until it did it again. This was so disappointing because we then knew we would have to take the truck into the shop and we would also have to be taken off the load we were so excited about. Of course, peace of mind is that it will be fixed and we were not stuck in downtown New York City with a broken down truck. Expiditers told us that if it was the shifter that eventually it would just quit on us and wouldn't move at all, now that would definitely not be fun anywhere let alone in the middle of New York City. We took the last stop as a sign from God that we were not to take our truck into New York City. Both of us are thankful that He told us before we made the trip, but pretty bummed that we lost the load. We called dispatch and they completely understood. We hated to be taken off the load, not only because we wanted the load but also because it causes extra work for the dispatchers and is also disappointing for our owner. Nothing we could do about it, but we still feel lousy because we feel that we have let others down and caused them extra work, especially when it means we are just sitting and waiting.
Jim called Kenworth and of course it was going to be Friday before we could get in, so currently we are in Carlisle, PA at the Petro waiting to be able to get in to Kenworth. Hopefully, they will be able to get us in early Friday so that we might be able to catch a load out this weekend.
Peace, Love and Joy.
Judy
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| Bronx-Whitestone Bridge onto Long Island |
We picked up the paperwork on time and then went to the first pickup. We were there on time but they were not quite ready for us. We have found out that we carry our CDLs when we pickup or deliver because some customers want to see your id and always at the airport and military bases. In talking to dispatch, each stop we did a departure call. Before we called them we weren't sure of the procedure for multiple stops and also weren't sure about the paperwork which we found out, it was up to us. We could do it all on one BOL sheet or do it on two and put the same BOL number on both sheets and send them boh in.
Our third stop was snug. We had to pull onto a road to pull the truck into the dock, tight squeeze. The third stop was another ground carrier and one of the guys on the dock said, "You have a great halloween costume." Jim and I appreciated his sense of humor. So far we have had good experiences at the airports and enjoy watching the airplanes as we wait. After we were loaded and checked and double checked the paperwork and airbill numbers, we were off to deliver in West Virginia.
We left the airport around 4:45, imagine that, traffic in New York City at 4:45! As crazy as we thought it would be, we were not in it as long as we were on the way there. It was moving at about 15 mph, but it was moving. We were merging from traffic into traffic and the truck decided to make a sound like we were dropping a ton of bricks (Jim said it was like someone was hammering on the truck) and then it wouldn't move. I gave it gas but it acted like it was in neutral. We moved it from drive to neutral back to drive, no go. We moved it from drive to neutral, to reverse, to neutral and back to drive. It finally took off. My heart jumped, imagine a stopped truck in the middle of New York traffic. I was so glad that we got it going again. It still made some noise as we stopped but not everytime that we stopped and never made the noise as long as we were moving. We thought that it was probably just because we had been in such start and stop traffic there and back, we thought maybe the truck was just tired of the traffic.
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| Traffic on the George Washington Bridge Approach |
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| NYC Evening from the George Washington Bridge |
Off we went to West Virginia, even though the sun had been shining and the snow had melted we saw many downed trees on the side of the road as we went through Maryland and Pennsylvania. None of them were on the road, thank goodness but there were sure a lot of them along side of the road. I can't imagine what it looked like the day after the storm. Of course as usual, the scenery was spectacular and even once the sun went down, the moon was so bright you could still see the magnificent scenery. Jim was sleeping, so we didn't get any pictures on the way to West Virginia or back because he was driving and I was sleeping.
Our drop off in West Virginia was another easy one, at least for me, Jim unloaded it while I slept. He did have a little difficulty finding where we were supposed to be, he went to one place and they told him another and he went over to the other place and the guy told him it was supposed to go somewhere else in the facility. The last guy was wonderful and told Jim that he could just pull into the dock and he would make sure that it got to the right place. I think he kind of felt sorry for us that we had been sent in the wrong direction and it was about 4 am. Jim said that the man needed an award, if we had any to give out. He was really nice and went out of his way to help us, we really appreciated his thoughtfulness and kindness!
We had been predispatched on another load, so off to Maryland we went. The load was a temperature control load that paid well but was a short one and went from Baltimore to Frederick, Maryland. The pickup was near the stadium where the Ravens play. We've only picked up and/or delivered in the midst of a city just a couple of times. Usually we are in an industrial area on the outskirts, this pickup took us right into the city. Jim took quite a few pictures since the pickup was a time when both of us were awake. I told him that we have been taking lots of countryside pictures and I thought we should take some of city landscapes and places too. We both grew up in small communities, so technically the city life is just as new to us as the countryside is, so this time there are more pictures of city life driving.
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M&T Bank Stadium |
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| Right Outside the Stadium! |
Our pickup was scheduled for 1:00 pm and we arrived at 12:00. They weren't quite ready for us, so Jim took a nap and I caught up on facebook and read a little. The temp in the box was set for 64, which was a pretty easy temp to reach since the outside temperature was 67. We had turned it on a few hours before we arrived, just in case but knew it wouldn't take to long to get it to the temp. It didn't take anytime at all to get the 6 pallets on the truck and they were heavy enough and tall enough that the load bars held them tightly in place. On the dock, we ran into a couple of different personalities. One person was get it moving, do this, do that, no need for pleasantries, but he got the job done and then the other man got the job done and was able to have a pleasant conversation with us. We really appreciate the friendliness of the dock workers and enjoy talking to them. Their friendliness makes our day!
Off we went to deliver just 50 miles up the road. We broke the seal and backed into the dock. When we got onto the dock, the man handed Jim the pallet jack and proceeded talking to me about the paperwork. Generally Jim and I usually help get things on and off the truck but this time it was kind of funny because we usually help unload or load and we had not had any of our customers expect us to take it off the truck by ourselves. Not a problem, just that it never happened to us quite like that and truth be told, that is just the way he has probably always done it. Jim unloaded and I had a nice conversation with him about what we do and he shared how often they use FedExCC a week and where they got freight from and what cities they shipped to and from. He also shared that he rarely saw the same team and he knew why because he had talked to the other teams that had been there. He told us to have a good trip and we were off.
The next load was also one that we were dispatched on. We were pretty excited about it, it was something we had never done before and were glad to have something new to look forward to. One part of it was driving in downtown New York City. I know, this is not something very many truck drivers look forward to, but we thought that it would be an experience we would probably never forget. The load that we were carrying was also something we had never carried before. The not so new part for us was that it would be a secure load which is why I am not sharing anything else about it. So, we headed in the direction of our pickup.
I decided that I could use a pickmeup from McDonald's, a nice diet coke for the road. We were on US Route 15 and I kept thinking, I should run into one pretty soon. Well, first of all I'm never sure if they have truck parking or not, but have learned that most of them have enough space that we can park our straight truck in some out of the way parking spots or in a parking lot of a shopping center behind them. I passed one without realizing it until I was already by it and thought, there will be another one soon. I drove for a while and decided to get off an exit. Once I got off the exit it said that McDonald's was three miles away. Not bad I thought because we had enough time that we would actually be staying at a truck stop because the load didn't pick up til the next morning. Well, three miles was perfectly all right and then I figured out that I was in Gettysberg. I hadn't really paid much attention other than the McDonald's sign when I got off. I drove through the battlefield and then hit downtown where I decided to follow the highway instead of going down streets not knowing if they were truck friendly. Well, I never did find the McDonald's and then wasn't sure if I was heading in the right direction. Thank goodness for the GPS for getting me back on track. Turns out that Gettysberg is on the business route 15, so it just took me back to the regular route by just turning down another road. Still....no McDonald's, on down the highway I went.
I finally went up the road just a ways and found one that was just off the highway. I got up to the stop light and the truck started in, with the banging and not moving when you pushed on the accelerator. We got it going again and went to McDonald's and decided that we should call Expediter Services and see what we should do. Jim called and we tried to take out the transmission fuse and let it reset to see if that would do the trick. We were hoping that the fuse would do the trick. Not only were we excited about the load but we also needed the load since we had already missed having a load on Monday and a short load doesn't bring much income for a day's work. We wanted the truck fixed but were not looking forward to waiting around until it was fixed. We also knew that if the fuse wasn't it, then we would have to take it to the dealership which we knew would be at least a day's wait until we would be able to get it in.
After we placed the fuse back in, we left in the direction of our pickup. We didn't even make it to the highway until it did it again. This was so disappointing because we then knew we would have to take the truck into the shop and we would also have to be taken off the load we were so excited about. Of course, peace of mind is that it will be fixed and we were not stuck in downtown New York City with a broken down truck. Expiditers told us that if it was the shifter that eventually it would just quit on us and wouldn't move at all, now that would definitely not be fun anywhere let alone in the middle of New York City. We took the last stop as a sign from God that we were not to take our truck into New York City. Both of us are thankful that He told us before we made the trip, but pretty bummed that we lost the load. We called dispatch and they completely understood. We hated to be taken off the load, not only because we wanted the load but also because it causes extra work for the dispatchers and is also disappointing for our owner. Nothing we could do about it, but we still feel lousy because we feel that we have let others down and caused them extra work, especially when it means we are just sitting and waiting.
Jim called Kenworth and of course it was going to be Friday before we could get in, so currently we are in Carlisle, PA at the Petro waiting to be able to get in to Kenworth. Hopefully, they will be able to get us in early Friday so that we might be able to catch a load out this weekend.
Peace, Love and Joy.
Judy
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