When I left you last, I had just gotten my truck and it had broken down. That happened a week ago. My how time flies. I have been assigned to a.different truck and have driven six loads since then. I have gone from Ohio to Saint Louis. From Edwardsville, IL to Edwardsville, KS. I was able to.pack all the things I had brought from home then. I sat around all day Sunday until very late at night. I got a "repowered " load at 11:30 in the evening. When a truck breaks down, the company assigns the load to a different driver. The new driver has to find the first driver and they switch trailers. I had to drive to a truckstop in Oak Grove, MO to pick up this load. It was going to a Kohl's store in Lincoln, NE. I then had to drive to South Sioux City, NE to pick my next load. I ran out of hours after I got there so I ended up spending the night in their parking lot. I drove from there to Cozad, NE to drop that load. I then drove to Imperial, NE to pick up my next load.
This last load was the most unusual load I have had yet. I ended up picking up 45260 lbs of potatoes They were lose unpackaged potatoes. I had to back my trailer over a conveyed belt that the potatoes were riding on. They would get to the end of the belt and fall off into the back of my trailer. Every so often I would have to pull the trailer foward, until eventually the entire trailer was full. Usually all of the freight we haul is sitting on pallets. The receiving department usually uses some type of fork lift to pick up the pallets and carry them out of the trailer. I couldn't for.the life.of me figure out how they were going to empty the trailer when I reached my final destination of Topeka, KS.
I was amazed by how they did it. I had to back the trailer up onto a large steel platform. I then had to unhook from the trailer. Once my tractor was clear of the trailer......they opened up the rear trailer doors and put a large plate accros the opening of the back of the trailer. The plate was placed about 18 inches above the bottom of the trailer. The platform turned out to be a giant lift or hoist. It began to tilt the trailer on its end! Imagine looking at a 53 foot long trailer being lifted to a 40 degree angle so gravity does all of the unloading for them. The plate on the back of the trailer opening keeps the potatoes from falling out into one giant pile. The potatoes fall into a hopper of sorts.that sends them on their way into the plant to eventually become hash browns.
After delivering the potatoes, I was almost out of fuel. My driver manager had me drive back to our terminal in Edwardsvillle, KS to refuel. Once I got to the terminal I had to drop my trailer and park my tractor. I finally got.to.meet my driver manager. She informed me that I had to get a new style computer installed in my truck. I also had to have an inverter hard wired instead of using the kind that plug into the the cigarette lighter. The company requires anyone who.sleeps.with a cpap machine to have this done. The fear is that the machine could draw too much current through wires that are too small in diameter causing a potential fire risk if it isn't hard wired directly to the battery terminals with thicker wires. She also informed me that I had to take the electronic log class. So I have to sit and wait until all of this has been accomplished. Today I was able to get the computer installed and get the inverter hard-wired. Now all I have to do is take the e-log class at 9:00 tomorrow. Then I will be available for another load. Hopefully that will happen sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Well the Cardinals just lost game four to the Brewers. Time to go.to bed. I'll write more later.....Tom
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