Will It Ever End???

Now that I am over being exhausted from my previous weeks excursion, I thought I would share it with you.


I am running a somewhat alternate schedule than what I have become accustomed to. My new game plan involves me leaving out on Monday morning for a quick trip across the border. (Alabama, that is) Upon returning, I begin my normal route up to the Great NorthEast. A little Philly and a little Jersey. Because of the time frame, I cannot actually begin to deliver until Wednesday morning. Normally I cant complete the task at hand in one day and venture back to the homefront, arriving midday Thursday. This particular set up pays a little more than the previous load assignment because there is a crane mounted inside the trailer and I have to physically unload every last piece, by myself. Usually about 100 bundles total. SWEET.


This week, however was not soooo sweet. First thing, the freight was loaded improperly which added an additional 3 hours of labor straight out of the gate. That 3 hour delay was the sole reason I was unable to finish up in one day. If you will, notice how the palletized material is placed on top of the bundles of aluminum. Well that means a forklift can NOT drive into the trailer . Too many obstacles in the way. Therefore, I had to remove 6 bundles of aluminum in order for the lift driver to retrieve one pallet. There were five pallets total. Lets do the math.... That's 30 bundles removed and 30 bundles reloaded. Even then it was still a bit difficult for the lift driver to maneuver inside the trailer.. Oh, by the way, you should also note that the pallets are stacked too high for the crane to be of any use at this point.






Looks like fun !!

Yes, a few of them hit the floor!!






So, I finally finished up around noon on Thursday (after a few more unscheduled delays). But not before the phone calls started coming in. "Can you go pick this up" "Can you go pick that up"
A seemingly harmless trip had been turned into delivery nightmare. With an additional 5 pick-ups scheduled, my week was dragging on quite nicely.

Now to wind this up, I will only tell you about the final pitfall in my journey...

Pick Up #5. Reels of cable to be delivered to Georgia Power. Now, these reels have to be loaded a certain way. Standing up, which means the are very mobile if not secured. Normally they are secured with 2x4s nailed into the flooring, to prevent the reels from rolling. My trailer had metal floors... HMMMMMM. They assured me the reels would be secure when I pulled out...They nailed a few 2x4s into the reels themselves to act as a prop.. WHATEVER...Anyone knows that a 10 penney nail doesn't stand a chance against 800 lbs of roundness. What am I getting at??? Well, within 16 miles of loading the reels, the little nails decided to surrender. For the next 750 miles my special little 800lb reels rolled from one side of the trailer to the other. With 9 of them total, that's 7200 pounds of mobile freight.. I had several people ask me if I was okay. I guess they thought I was drunk, especially since my trailer kept a swaying all the way home. Talk about a white knuckle adventure!!! Hope your week was a good one.