My Recent Trucking Adventures – Quite A Challenge

Last week I was ending a trip, and got what is known as a pre-plan in the trucking industry. Basically, a pre-plan is a new load assignment, before we are even done with our current load. Truck drivers love pre-plans because it means we will either be heading out right away (more money for us!) or we know exactly when we’ll have to head out again.

Being Held Up Again

Unfortunately, on this occasion, I was stuck at my receiver. Pulled into the receiver at 3am, was assigned a dock door at 4:30am, and didn’t get unloaded until about noon. This is the nature of the beast in truck driving sometimes, especially at grocery warehouses which I deal with often as I drive a refrigerated trailer. I thought I was going to lose my pre-plan due to not being able to make my pick up time, but I was unloaded just in time.

Finding Places is Half The Fun

Here’s where the fun really starts. I was dispatched to pick up a load of beer at a Samuel Adams brewery in Cincinnati, OH. I’ve been to this location before, and got completely lost going there the first time. I figured I’d do better this time, as I’ve been there before. I was wrong. I followed the directions I was sent to the T, but I found myself all turned around in the middle of downtown Cincinnati. As I became more and more frustrated, I heard two other drivers on the CB radio asking where the brewery was. Three of us were running around Cincinnati, and none of us knew how to get there. My tour of Cincinnati lasted about 30 minutes, before I finally found the place. Turns out, the directions I was sent were totally wrong, which didn’t help matters much.

I was thankful to finally be there, until I read the shipping papers. Weight: 45,000lbs. This meant my truck would be right near the legal weight limit. I also had to slide my tandems back towards the rear of the trailer, which makes it much more difficult to take tight corners. I also had 3 different stops on this load, and I could tell they were small warehouses that I was delivering to. Not only that, but my schedule to make each stop was extremely tight, and barely even legally possible.

In any case, I slid the tandems to where I thought I’d be legal on each axle, and hit the road. Upon weighing out my load at a truck stop, I found that I was legal. Big relief. The truck was heavy, but legal.

The First Stop

My first stop was in Chattanooga, TN. My appointment was for 7am, but I’d be getting there late at night. I figured I’d go straight to the customer, and see if they had overnight parking. When I got there, I discovered that it was a very small warehouse, with barely any room for a truck my size. So I headed back north to a truck stop, which had one parking spot I didn’t feel comfortable backing into. Back on the road to a rest area, which was full. I finally ended up parking for the night in a scenic overlook area off the expressway. Took me about 90 minutes to find parking, and I was exhausted. I fell asleep, wondering how in the world I was going to deliver at this tiny place in the morning.

When I got there, I pulled in and parked my truck the best I could, so I could check in with the customer. Turns out, I had to back in from the street, which had two lanes going in each direction, in order to get into their dock. As soon as there was an opening, I went into the street, blocked up traffic, and began backing in, trying not to think about the people waiting on me during morning rush hour traffic. Thankfully, this was one occasion I was able to back the truck in very well and I didn’t block traffic for too long. continue to page 2 –>

About Author TruckerMike

TruckerMike embarked on a career in trucking late in 2008 after deciding that life in a cubicle might not be where it's at. He's been trucking since early 2009 and is TruckingTruth's most popular blogger. You can find more at TruckerMike's bio.

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