My Prime TNT Progress Updates

Nice Pack Rat.

Unloaded at 10:14 PDT. Received bills.

Robert Departed at 10:23 PDT using PC because not under a dispatched load to go a Blue Beacon for trailer washout and truck stop parking near to it while we await our next load assignment.

A family side note. My great-nephew Brandon qualified yesterday to play in his first PGA Championship Tournament at Tulsa in May. This has been his and his father’s life long dream. He works as a club pro at a country club near Dallas. He has played practice rounds with former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo when he is preparing to play a celebrity tournament.

His father was his caddy and is hugging him. Way to go Brandon!

Now that is MOST impressive!

Got our next load assignment and was worth waiting for a total of 3,892 dispatch miles.

We have 3 pickups of produce in Watsonville, Salinas and Bakersfield, CA then haul it to Warwick, RI to deliver Tuesday morning.

This will give me 29,730 TNT miles on 04/26/22!

I’ve been driving on I-5S since 14:17 CDT. Stopped at 19:36 CDT for my 30 min break at Jacksonville, OR.

276 miles so far in 5h 11m. I still have 210 miles to go to our fuel stop in Orland, CA where we will switch drivers.

Another beautiful drive through God’s Country on I-5S thru Oregon. Too bad people have to screw things up.

04/21/22 wrap and 04/22/22 start

The drive through Northern California was also beautiful, especially the Mount Shasta area.

Besides the beautiful vistas, this drive gave me plenty of practice on mountain downgrades. The last couple hours were after dark with a light rain that adds to the tension for me.

I slow way down running 45-48 on most downgrades and curves. I’m dead heading empty, so the upgrades aren’t as slow.

I keep Robert’s rule in mind: Only a fool goes down a hill too fast. You only get one chance.

I arrived at our fuel stop at 00:22 CDT on 04/22/22 in Orland, CA. We switched drivers here. Robert was driving on at 01:05 CDT (23:05 PDT) for our Loc 01 pickup in Watsonville, CA ~250 miles to pick from 08:00-10:00 PDT.

My total miles were 487 in 9h 26m (51.6 mph avg speed).

An interesting point about the load we dropped off on Thursday morning. When we opened the trailer, there was a load lock laying on the floor near back of the trailer and several boxes had fallen down. The receiver wasn’t concerned about it. I took a photo just in case. The lumpers loading the trailer didn’t bother to put up the load lock. Since it was a sealed trailer when we picked it up, we couldn’t do anything about it.

This new load requires two load locks minimum. So Robert bought one tonight at our fuel stop to go with the one we got with the trailer.

These produce pickups are also Shipper Loads Driver Counts. However, since Covid drivers aren’t typically being allowed on loading docks to witness the loading to count the pieces. Therefore we end up calling our Claims Dept to let them know that we couldn’t witness loading, therefore Prime will not be responsible for any miscounts of product.

Time to get my beauty sleep.

04/22/22

Robert driving at 01:05 CDT (23:05 PDT).

Arrived to Loc 01 customer parking area at 05: 30 CDT (03:30 PDT) at Watsonville, CA.

Appointment is at 10:00-12:00 CDT (08:00-10:00 PDT).

Lay down a few hours.

04/22/22 continues

We were up at 07:40 PDT (09:40 CDT).

Robert checked in with Shipping office at 08:10 PDT. We were required to pre-cool the trailer to 34F before being given a dock. Once that was done was told to back into Dock 3 and take a paper into the loader.

Robert docked and I went in to see the loader at 08:40. He couldn’t start loading until 09:00 because they had a power outage and needed to scan the pallets. Won’t take long to load 8 pallets of berries. When the dock light turns green, I can return to count the pallets and install my two load locks.

From here we drive a short distance to Salinas for our second load of veggies. Will likely switch drivers after that pickup.

Finally got loaded and ready to depart Loc 01 shipper at 10:07 PDT (12:07 CDT).

I start my shift and drive from 10:18 PDT (12:18 CDT) to our Loc 02 shipper in Salinas arriving at 11:03 PDT (13:03 CDT).

Checked in with shipping and now wait for call to dock.

It is now 15:23 PDT and still waiting to dock at Loc 02 shipper. The appointment window here is up to 19:00 PDT.

I’ve already alerted Dispatch that if I’m not departing here by 17:00-17:30 PDT, that it will be very difficult to arrive at Loc 03 in Bakersfield before the 22:00 PDT end of that appointment window.

Dispatch asked for an updated ETA to Loc 03 soon as I can, which will be when I’m actually ready to depart.

Then dispatch can deal with Sales and the Loc 03 shipper.

The 212 miles to Loc 03 will take close to 4 hours.