Saturday, May 7, 2011

The 'Fish Run'...

This is a cut and paste (so I don't have to retype it) from a 'trucker's forum' that I read/post on - so some of the terms might not make sense - sorry... We are adjusting to the 'life style' though... true its not all peaches and cream, but its not so bad either - LOL!  Right now we are in CA - not sure where we will be heading from here - but we do have reservations in Las Vegas for the 'Meet and Greet' (second annual)... lets hope we make it!!

Whew - now I know why those fish loads are 'infamous'. Oh and I will state it here publicly - Gary was right!! Now for the rest of the story...

We spent the night in the Everglades because our DM 'highly' suggested not to spend the night in Miami - as in not the best neighborhood. Not a problem and now I get to say I spent the night in the Everglades So we make it to Miami and get the trailer wash done. That was fun, he didn't speak english and we don't speak spanish - sigh. Then we find out the fish missed the plane so the 1700 has been bumped to 2300... fine, we break out the BBQ and lawn chairs and relax for a little bit... we were told not to get there early, because there isn't much room - so we were good little company drivers and arrived the prescribed one hour before our appt. time. They have 2 doors that are being used (the third had a dumpster infront of it) and we check in and wait... and wait... and wait... finally at 0200 we go back in and make ourselves visable again and ask, so how much longer?? They say take the next door - nice! Now as we are waiting - another truck just slips his way in there!! We were good little drivers and read the sign that said check into the office before backing into a door.. no wonder these other guys were getting loaded before us - they didn't wait, they just went in! Anyway I digeress... we finally get backed up to the dock... now this one is a bit confussing... we get basically 2 loads - 1 to drop in Isola and in CA, but we will need to then go to Indianola to pick up more that will then be dropped in Tempe, AZ and CA.. or something along those lines. Gary (thankfully) dealt with the details - I was a log book for this run. So anyway we were doing the 8/3 split driving the last run and the first part of this run - trying to maximize our time and miles... its a pain to keep track of - and needless to say, we are NOT doing it anymore. Its just not worth the stress!! Now as to why Gary was right... on this load they wanted almost continuious updates on our eta to the next stop... well besides the fish missing the plane - our qualcomm took a dump for 'that' night (kept rebooting anytime ANY info was being transmitted) and the fuel stop they first directed us to was a card lock with NO READER!! So the next fuel stop (with us at 1/8 tank) was a 'treat' to find and ate up another 1.5 hours!! So when asked what our eta was going to be - I looked at the GPS and it said <____> hours... and I told the night DM in SLC <____> straight drive time. I was thinking that she would realise that the time I told her did NOT include time for 1) refueling 2) going to the bathroom!! It was strictly driving!! That was the time they set for our next appt!! GARY IS RIGHT!! You have to add your own time in and stick to that number!! So that was the beginning of our run... the rest is a bit of a blurrrrr... they dropped one stop - then changed another in route, only to change it back - LOL! Yeah the miles might be good - but I'm not sure if its worth the headaches...

So now we are in Fontana getting a new wiring harness for the Qualcomm (it was broken at the satillite hook up) and having them check the batteries too - although our refidgerator took a dump, so right now our batteries are doing ok - so will they find anything wrong?? Who knows...

Wow I wrote a book on this one - LOL! Gary is able to use his little notebook during his 'sleeper' time to get on line - mine is a normal size lap top so its a bit harder (and I'm sticking to that story) for me ... so off to read and catch up a bit!!

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