Our first load was assigned to us by Jim, on Monday 9/3/07, Labor Day.
Actually, Sam Kholi Enterprises has recently contracted with Schneider National to do some of their "over flow" jobs. So this load is for Schneider.
We are taking a load of general department store stuff from City of Industry, CA (COI) to Casa Grande, AZ (south of Phoenix) to a brand new Target store, ...... and what is nice... we have a lot of time to get there (unlike when we worked for JIT).
We have to pick up the load by 8am on Tuesday, 9/4/07 in COI, and deliver it in Casa Grande at 9am on Thursday 9/6/07. No Problem!
Sam (Kholi) is buying several "new" trucks (2006 Kenworths - nice) and several new trailers (that will be stenciled with "Jesus Christ is Lord -- Not a Swear Word"), but they haven't arrived from Texas yet.... so we will be taking the "training" truck (that we took on the drive test) and an unmarked trailer. It's still OK.... A 2000 Freightliner is still better than anything we drove at TLC. And the A/C works. Yeah!!!
We got a ComData card for fueling, took the truck and trailer home to load all of our stuff into it, then headed up to COI the night before. We stayed at the TA (Travel Centers of America) in Ontario, CA (about 16 miles from where we need to be for the pickup). This was very good for logistics, but we didn't sleep very well.
So we get up on Tuesday, 9/4/7, and get to the pick up point early.... 7:30am for an 8am appointment time.
We get all loaded, and head back to the TA to get some sleep.
We also get Idle-Aire. See yellow tube going into the truck?
Side Note:
Idle-Aire is very cost effective. With Idle-Aire you get...
A/C, 110v outlets (x 4),
TV channels free - if you have a TV, or they will loan you a TV,
Pay-Per-View channels (optional extra),
ethernet connection to the Internet, and several other things.
Idle-Aire costs about $2/hour.
To idle the truck uses about 2 gallons per hour, and fuel costs about $3/gallon.
You do the Math.
Also... Jim said that Sam Kholi Enterprises (SKE) will reimburse us for the Idle-Aire. Yeah!
We sleep all day Tuesday, 9/4/07.
We get up and leave Ontario, CA at Midnight Wednesday, 9/5. Leroy is driving.
We arrive in Casa Grande, AZ on Wednesday, 9/5/07 at 9am, and try to get permission to deliver a day early, but they say No. They only have crews available on assigned days and times to unload the trucks.
So... we find a truck stop about 5 miles away and wait all day. We get showers, do laundry, rest, etc....
On our paperwork is says to be to the delivery point the night before, and we found out that there will be 4 other trucks needing to be unloaded beside us. So.. we decide to go to the construction site (the new Target) and sleep there. We arrive there about 8pm. We are hoping for a "first come-first served" unloading order....
By 7am, it is RAINING due to high humidity and heat. We get soaked checking in.
At 8am, the Target crew arrive and show us on our paperwork there are numbers as to who will be unloaded first... we are number 4.
They have two docks and start unloading the first two trucks right away.
Oh... I forgot to mention... on the way to this delivery we are assigned another load by the Schneider dispatcher, Wendy.
Pick up in Phoenix (about 45 mins away) at 11:30am on Thursday, 9/6/07.
Now there is a time pressure to get unloaded on time.
God Bless 'Em... they unloaded us pretty quick. We were all done by 10:00am.
Now we head up to Phoenix..... Laurie is driving now. :)
