My Day Is Shot

So I called into my customer yesterday to see if I could pick my load up early so I could get past Denver before rush hour hits. I was told by the guard shack that I can arrive up to 4h early to my scheduled time. So I did just that, I started my day at 0230 and arrived at 0300 for an 0600-0900 appt time in Fort Collins CO. When I went to check in, the (different) guard told me that the load wont be ready until 0800. Well, that just screwed my plans for today. Was hoping to get all the way to the Topeka service area and get a 34 in before my appt on Monday, but it looks like that's not gonna happen.

There is a big difference between you can arrive early and your load is ready...

Man I hate when that happens. I've even had the CSR and planners tell me the trailer was pre-loaded and waiting for me at the customer. I knew the customer and had head this before. Soooooo against my better judgment I go in early anyway and again it's a no go. This particular customer won't let you wait on site Sooooo you have to waste even more time finding a place to sit for several hours.

Never again! LOL!

JJ

So I called into my customer yesterday to see if I could pick my load up early so I could get past Denver before rush hour hits. I was told by the guard shack that I can arrive up to 4h early to my scheduled time. So I did just that, I started my day at 0230 and arrived at 0300 for an 0600-0900 appt time in Fort Collins CO. When I went to check in, the (different) guard told me that the load wont be ready until 0800. Well, that just screwed my plans for today. Was hoping to get all the way to the Topeka service area and get a 34 in before my appt on Monday, but it looks like that's not gonna happen.

Welcome to trucking...

Arriving early, doesn't necessarily mean you will be taken early. If they got you into a door @ 8:00 - then THEY were "on time".

Make "plans" for what you'd LIKE to happen - and then make backup plans for ANYTHING that might happen (and usually does).

If you went "sleeper berth" when arriving at 0300 - and waited until 1100 to leave - you could have done a "split" and still had 13.5 on your 14 & 10.5 on your 11. Plenty of time to make it to Topeka (if that's what the traffic gods allowed).

Rick

Unfortunately Rick at our company it us against policy to do split breaks. It would be nice though to have that option when the situation calls for it. I could have used it once or twice so far in the month i have been solo, lol.

So I called into my customer yesterday to see if I could pick my load up early so I could get past Denver before rush hour hits. I was told by the guard shack that I can arrive up to 4h early to my scheduled time. So I did just that, I started my day at 0230 and arrived at 0300 for an 0600-0900 appt time in Fort Collins CO. When I went to check in, the (different) guard told me that the load wont be ready until 0800. Well, that just screwed my plans for today. Was hoping to get all the way to the Topeka service area and get a 34 in before my appt on Monday, but it looks like that's not gonna happen.

Welcome to trucking...

Arriving early, doesn't necessarily mean you will be taken early. If they got you into a door @ 8:00 - then THEY were "on time".

Make "plans" for what you'd LIKE to happen - and then make backup plans for ANYTHING that might happen (and usually does).

If you went "sleeper berth" when arriving at 0300 - and waited until 1100 to leave - you could have done a "split" and still had 13.5 on your 14 & 10.5 on your 11. Plenty of time to make it to Topeka (if that's what the traffic gods allowed).

Rick

Unfortunately Rick at our company it us against policy to do split breaks.

What Rick suggested doesn't qualify as a split break in and of itself. If you log sleeper for 8 consecutive hours, it will "suspend" your 14 hour clock during that time so you can roll out with the same number of hours you rolled in with. (Please no one turn this into another pointless thread about split sleeper rules).

Anyways, yeah that's just trucking. I think I had about 364 days like that last year.

Ah ok, that I did not know. I certainly wasnt trying to turn this into a rules about sleeper split times, lol.

Unfortunately Rick at our company it us against policy to do split breaks.

What Rick suggested doesn't qualify as a split break in and of itself. If you log sleeper for 8 consecutive hours, it will "suspend" your 14 hour clock during that time so you can roll out with the same number of hours you rolled in with. (Please no one turn this into another pointless thread about split sleeper rules).

Anyways, yeah that's just trucking. I think I had about 364 days like that last year.

I guess it's possible your company has that feature disabled on your Qualcomm , but I think most likely you could just take the 8 hours in the sleeper and then just follow up with a 10 hour break later so it wouldn't count as a split.

I certainly wasnt trying to turn this into a rules about sleeper split times, lol.

You're good--wasn't really directed at you since you don't even do splits lol. Whenever somebody brings up sleeper splitting, everyone and their mother seems to join in to perpetuate their typically inaccurate and poorly explained understanding of them.

Yep, it's a gamble starting your clock that early if you're not sure if your load is ready. I certainly don't have it down to an exact science but I'm more likely to take a gamble and start earlier if it's a smaller place that can be more flexible about getting you in and out sooner.

I'm picking up from a place tomorrow that will let me check in 4 hours early but it's a big DC that's a bit of a pain in the butt. They're slow usually and they have lots of heavy loads and reworks so I won't be going in any more than two hours early.

On a side note, I like the Maple Hill Truck stop just west of Topeka. You might check it out on the way to the service area.

On another side note, you know it's Saturday right? Lol. Denver traffic is no fun either way. Less rush hour today though.

Plan A didn't work, but Plan B worked out perfectly. Was perfectly weighed before I left the site and was able to get to Salina KS in just under 8h without stopping. Needed to do a 34 anyway so I figured it'd be better to do it when I have access to a shower.

Yep, it's a gamble starting your clock that early...

On another side note, you know it's Saturday right? Lol. Denver traffic is no fun either way. Less rush hour today though.

Either way, by the time I was able to stop, I had plenty of options to park which is why I don't mind starting early.

And I actually did hit some traffic in Denver on 25 just before 270. Was getting over in the left lane and when I looked forward, the lane was at a dead stop so I had to slam on my brakes real quick. First time getting a hard brake critical event due to traffic. I at least thought it would happen in Chicago before anywhere else.