I won't take that load! I won't! ... Okay, I'll take it

Last Friday before I went home the planners at HQ gave me a preplan to take a load from the Springfield underground for Buske to Omaha, Nebraska on Monday. I immediately messaged back to decline the load unless they would allow me to drop off the trailer when I went home and picked it up on Monday. They wouldn't allow that, so I turned it down.

Monday rolls around and I call my dispatcher to see if he has a different load. "It still shows you on that load from last week," he said. I gave him the short rundown and was told that he'd find me something else for the following day.

Tuesday rolls around and it turns out the choices are that load, which simply wasn't picked up the previous day, or to wait all day then run a load overnight down to Amarillo for 0600 delivery Wednesday morning. Comparing various amounts of suckitude, I eventually gave in and took the trip up to Omaha.

The reason I dislike this particular load so much is that I don't get paid detention for the time spent waiting on Buske to get their act together. Twice before I arrived between 0600 and 0700 for an 0730 appointment only to find out they don't have appointments and because they give our planners a window of (say) 0730 to 1400, they aren't considered late until two hours after the end of that window, no matter what time I show up.

In short, I usually wait six hours to get loaded then drive six hours to the destination and this annoys the crap out of me, honestly.

I didn't make any special effort to arrive early and showed up at the site around 0945. There were a long line of trucks waiting to get in and by about 1030 I was parked and checked in. Something really had a burr under their saddles, as it was no later than noon when I was given a door to load out of and by 1315 or so the trailer was full and I was on my way.

Another thing that grates on my nerves is sitting in traffic jams. I was about three hours from the north side of Kansas City so I wasted no time and skipped lunch to get ahead of the traffic. It was busy but still moving and as I was leaving town the crest of a wave of traffic was forming behind me.

If my day ended another three hours later when I arrived in Omaha that would have been great. This being trucking, it wasn't the case.

First, the Pepsi folks receiving the load told me to drop off the trailer at our yard as they were getting full and expecting more product. Not unprecedented, but it is annoying to get into and out of their property due to the way the streets are designed.

Second, my APU wasn't cooling so I had to go to the shop after dropping the trailer and finishing up the paperwork to get them to call over to ThermoKing to see if they could fix it tonight. They said sure and I bobtailed over.

Three hours later the problem is found (my aftermarket chainbox had moved slightly forward, causing the leading edge to rub against the line carrying Freon for the condenser), I'm tired and I have something else to get fixed.

Just before going to bed I notice my left steer has caught a nail or a screw as well. Will worry about all of that stuff tomorrow.