Atlanta Woes.

So I'm in/near Atlanta and this place is just ridiculous.

I parked yesterday ear the Alabama state line because I wanted to run in Atlanta at night. (My delivery was at 2:15). The city itself was a snap that early in the morning.

Once I got on the other side I ended up on a state highway. With lights every 500 feet. And hill and blind curves before the lights. And 41000 pounds in the reefer. The speed limit was 45-55. I did about 25-30 the whole way. All 20 miles of it. I'm glad I didn't wait until later to leave cause I made it on time but barely.

Oh and I forgot about my logs being on central time so I went over my 70 by 16 minutes while in Atlanta. Oops! But I got hours at midnight so it worked out.

Delivery went very smooth. Even managed a blindside offset and still nailed the door!

Got done unloading around 6 am Eastern time. One problem. There is NOWHERE to park around there!! Or park near Atlanta in general. So I backtracked nearly 90 miles to find a safe place to park. Through morning rush hour in Atlanta. What a mess!!

But now I have less than an hour on my 70. And my next load is supposed to pick up at 2 pm in Atlanta to head to Wyoming. Yeah that's not gonna happen...

I told my DM that it's not possible for me to make this pickup and run with the hours I have. It's been a few minutes and she hasn't gotten back with me so I guess she agrees! I'm not sure if I'm going to have to take a reset at this point but I'd say it's a possibility.

Just needed to vent...

I drive through (and sometimes into) Atlanta a lot. True, there's an ugly $20/night Petro on the SW part of 285, but that's it.

Villa Rica on I-20 (east side), there's a Loves on I-75 north of Marietta, and a bunch south on I-75 in Jackson. I don't get east much. Plan accordingly.

And the time zone thing still bites me in the butt almost every time I go from Alabama to Georgia. Join the club!

Let us know what happens, what you and your DM work out... Chickie. These scheduling/HOS "situations" are interesting and educational.

I'm in Temple at the Flying J. It's actually pretty nice and quiet.

Dispatch sent a message and asked if I could make it to the shipper 40 miles away in the time I have left. I have an hour and some change. And the shipper is inside The 285 loop. Which means navigating the city itself. There's no way. And that's what I told her.

So they are going to see about loading me tomorrow morning.

Also my DM told me that I had to send in my empty call BEFORE I left the reciever and that it's a DOT requirement. (I had waited until I got to the J before I sent it). Can anybody verify this?

The "time zone thing" is definitely something to pay attention to. "Log Time" is always the home time zone of your company/dispatched terminal.

Atlanta can be a nightmare - at all times of the day and night. Funny thing is - the highway system is laid out pretty well, except for the 285/85/75 interchanges on the S. Side. I used to stay in Marietta and Stone Mountain a few years back.

There's a bunch of parking about 25-30 minutes south of ATL on 75 in McDonough/Jackson. Exit 201 in Jackson has a Flying J, a Loves and a TA.

The place I used to store my tour bus off-tour was right there (it's now a Peterbilt dealership).

Rick

Oh and I forgot about my logs being on central time so I went over my 70 by 16 minutes while in Atlanta.

You're not on elogs?

Also my DM told me that I had to send in my empty call BEFORE I left the reciever and that it's a DOT requirement. (I had waited until I got to the J before I sent it). Can anybody verify this?

I don't know about it being a DOT requirement. I do know depending on how their system is set up it can be a heck of a lot more work for your DM if you don't do it at the reciever, as the system will reject it if you're too far away and your DM will have to input everything themselves.

Yes I'm on elogs. I knew I was getting hours back at midnight. I only had an hour and 15 minutes which if I had gotten back at midnight eastern time I would have been just fine.

But since my logs are on central time I ran over by 16 mins.

I get the feeling that explanation was more confusing than clarifying...

I'm in Temple at the Flying J. It's actually pretty nice and quiet.

Dispatch sent a message and asked if I could make it to the shipper 40 miles away in the time I have left. I have an hour and some change. And the shipper is inside The 285 loop. Which means navigating the city itself. There's no way. And that's what I told her.

So they are going to see about loading me tomorrow morning.

Also my DM told me that I had to send in my empty call BEFORE I left the reciever and that it's a DOT requirement. (I had waited until I got to the J before I sent it). Can anybody verify this?

"Technically" - if you dropped your load and left the receiver, then you are no longer "laden" under the "bill of lading" that you were operating under when you arrived at the receiver.

So if you don't log the "empty", then your log will show you as laden when moving (empty) from the receiver to the truck stop.

Minor technical log violation. I don't know that you would actually get written up by DOT for it. But, "technically", if you are "On Duty/Driving", and your logs show you as laden, when you are actually empty - then it's a violation.

What's the big deal about sending an empty before leaving the receiver? Most folks want to send their empty in as quickly as possible, so if they don't already have a pre-planned load, dispatch will know you're available.

Rick

Yes I'm on elogs. I knew I was getting hours back at midnight. I only had an hour and 15 minutes which if I had gotten back at midnight eastern time I would have been just fine.

But since my logs are on central time I ran over by 16 mins.

I get the feeling that explanation was more confusing than clarifying...

Ah, I gotcha. I have my phone and my truck's clock set to my logs time (Eastern), and my fiance's phone is set to adjust to local time automatically so I can verify what time zone we're in if needed. You could try doing something similar if you think it will help avoid confusion.

Rick- I always have a load preplanned for me which is great because I know which way I need to head to find a place to park and get all my load info. I was just ready to get a place to park today. I've been aggravated all morning and I just hauled behind outta there.

CS- I have my truck clock set to central time and my phone automatically changes. I just had a major brain fart last night when I was planning when I had to leave. But my DM didn't say anything about it, and neither did night dispatch so I'm guessing it's all good. Plus I can't find anything about it in my graphs or tables so I'm not too worried.