Maiden Voyage

DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. Hello again, readers. My apologies first for not posting yesterday; I was too tired from my overnight run. That started when I picked up a trailer in Milwaukee (actually Wauwatosa) at 10:00 p.m. (all times CST) bound for the KC area. I took it as far as Des Moines, IA before I had to stop at 10:00 a.m. for my 10-hour break (see my previous post about hours of service regulations). I did have a 3-hour power nap in the middle of that drive when fatigue set in, due to my overnight bus ride the previous night. Then I got back underway at 8:00 p.m. to complete the run.

I arrived at the delivery site at just after midnight after a brief struggle with a wrong turn (bad directions headed me into the wrong "truck entrance"). After dropping off that trailer, I needed to find some gas--er, we call it "fuel" in the industry; gasoline goes into cars and trucks use diesel fuel--so I headed up the road to an authorized truck stop. (USA Truck maintains a "Fuel Stop Network" of truck stops where we're authorized to fill up.) That's when the 2nd glitch regarding my fuel cards hit.

OK, back up, when was the first glitch? And what are fuel cards? Background info: At Pilot and some other truck stop chains, we have one card to use, Comdata. It's a combo debit card and company fuel credit card--USA pays our wages into our Comdata accounts (unless we set up direct deposit into our own bank accounts), and we use them to pay for fuel at the pumps, which then gets charged to USA. At one chain, Flying J, we have another fuel card to use, TCH, which is just for charging fuel to USA. Anyway, back to the glitches.

Remember when I stopped in Des Moines? I was going to fill up there at a Pilot truck stop. But the pump there wouldn't accept my Comdata card. I still had enough diesel to complete my run to KC, so I didn't sweat it (too much, though I was slightly concerned about my calculation that I had enough fuel to get to KC). I did call in to my dispatcher to get the problem resolved, though. He messaged me back later that it is resolved, but I haven't tested that yet. So after completing my run, I headed to the authorized Flying J in KC. There (actually, here, since I haven't left yet--more on that in a sec.), I tried to use my TCH card, and the pump told me that it's inactive. USA hadn't activated it yet since I started. AARGH! Since my fuel gauge was just about on E, and after waiting on hold on the phone for a 1/2 hour trying unsuccessfully to get connected to dispatch, I decided to park in the lot and wait there 'til dispatch could get that problem sorted out. So I fell asleep. That was at about 2:00 a.m. When I woke up after 9:00, I finally had a message that my TCH card is now active. Along with a message giving me my next load assignment.

Well, since I slept so long, my previous 14-hour shift was just about over (at 10:00 a.m. it would have been 14 hours since I went on duty yesterday), and I would need a new 10-hour break. OR I could count my time sleeping since 2:00 as the start of a 10-hour break and go back on duty at noon. So that's what I'm doing. Hallelujah! I've found the way to convert back from the overnight driving shift to daytime! Awwwwriiiight! So once noon rolls around in another 42 minutes from now, I'll bop back over to the fuel island and try to fill up. Then I'll head 2 miles up the highway from here to pick up my next load. Speaking of which, it's back to Wisconsin, though to Tomah this time. I'll try to post again when I stop for the night after today's drive.

By the way, here are my driving stats so far:
Thursday: 72 miles (well, I did start late at night)
Friday: 525 miles

Thanks for reading, and keep those comments coming. I love to know someone out there is reading this drivel.