ROUTE: Baltimore, MD to Portland, MI: 704 miles (612 loaded + 92 deadhead)
What should have been a routine assignment turned into a Hellish one. I started Monday 11/10 at 06:00 with a Dunkin Donuts’ coffee, bagel and munchkins. My delivery was a just over an hour away and the delivery appointment was set for 08:00. I made the delivery and went to a nearby truck stop to await my next assignment. There were at least four other AD drivers waiting for assignments too. Mine came in around 10:00.
This assignment was for a pickup in Baltimore, MD which was about an hour-and-half away and the appointment was at 13:30. I wasn’t that hungry so killed time in the truck and left around 11:30. I arrived at the shipper at 13:15 and it took just over an hour to load the trailer. Pulling out of the dock door I realized that this was a heavy load and they had not packed it correctly as it was all toward the front of the trailer. I suspected that I would not be legal on the axles weight distribution. I called my DM. He instructed to scale the load ASAP. The closest truck stop with a scale was 15 miles away going East of my route and in Baltimore where the traffic would be brutal. The next closest was 20 miles away going West of my route but was the optimal choice. Before heading out I went into the Shipping Office and warned them that I believed the weight distribution was not set properly. Their response: “You’re fine. We do this everyday.”
My suspicion proved to be correct. The total weight was 79,460lbs so under the maximum 80,000 but the front axle weighed in at 36,080 and the rear one at 32,480lbs. The maximum per axle according to DOT Regulations is 34,000lbs. I had moved the rear axle all the way forward so was not legal to advance the load. I called it in to our dispatch and they instructed me to go back to the shipper and have them reload, reduce or I had to reject it.
I went back to the shipper and showed them the scale ticket. They redistributed the cargo and though I was still over the maximum weight on one axle the distribution was more even. The drive axle was now 34,700lbs and the rear one 33,840lbs. However, instead of leaving the shipper at 14:30 I was now leaving at 17:15. That would screw up my delivery by an extra day as the consignee only allowed receipt of merchandize until 13:00.
The delay also messed up my eating schedule and where I had planned to spend the night. By 19:00 I decided to shut it down for the night at a rest stop on the highway that was full so I did creative-parking. I was tired and hungry, since I had not eaten since 06:00. There’s no food service at the rest stops and though I have food in the truck I was so tired that I just went to bed.
Tuesday 11/11 I started my day at 07:30 with a cereal in the truck and a red bull. Around 11:30 I stopped at a Travel Plaza and had a Roy Rogers Double R burger. Around 17:00 I stopped at another Travel Plaza and had Panda Express meal. I shut it down at 21:00 at a rest stop in Michigan that is five minutes from the consignee. Tomorrow I will get an assignment going to the New York area as I have a doctor’s appointment on Friday 11/14 and had requested home leave for that day and the weekend.
I managed to listen to three books on this assignment. The first one I did not like and stopped listening after 12% of the book. The second was boring and the third one is a short book that I had read in high school and loved then and still do.
BOOK REVIEWS:
1- Tell Me What You Did, A Novel by Carter Wilson (2025), FICTION – RATING (NR)
DNF.
Not what I expected though not sure what I did but it wasn’t this. I got to Chapter 12 (12%) and could not continue.
It was not entertaining. There was mental abuse of a helpless woman and that normally is enough for me. Maybe it turns out to be a great book therefore I will refrain from rating it.
2- When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley (2025), FICTION – RATING (***)
Weird love story. I should have read the synopsis more thoroughly but it seemed to have interesting elements that I’m familiar with: a latino immigrant to NYC searching for a better life.
The beginning was interesting and I was hooked. Then the pace started to slow down and the story drifted sideways. The Puerto Rican colloquialism added color to the protagonist’s character but quickly got annoying. I speak Spanish so understood them, as many were not translated, but it would have been infuriating if they were in a language I didn’t understand. The protagonist’s character was flimsy so hard for me to identify or find him likable. There were holes in the plot that also made the association with him hard, i.e. it was a small community and he would spend his nights away from his companions and no one seemed to take notice.
I was expecting a mystical adventure story but it became a heavy duty romance novel that barely held my interest but I had listened to 70% and wondered if it would have a great ending. It did not.
3- Animal Farm by George Orwell (1946), HISTORICAL FICTION – RATING (*****)
BRILLIANT!
“All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
I had read this book in high school but it’s short and I had time to fit it in my schedule.
A funny criticism to socialism/communism. The initial idea of a revolution where all are equal eventually transforms itself to same explotation of the masses by the self appointed elite but with the illusion that all are still equal.
