Last Run with Werner

We did finally get the load.
Because the load was picked up at 9pm, my trainer drove it all the way back to Phoenix, AZ. We arrived at 7:30am and drop the trailer at the Werner terminal. She stayed up all night.
We finally got assigned a load going to Salt Lake City, UT.
I got to drive... for a short while. about 3 hours.
First we spent 2 hours (10am-12pm) looking for an empty trailer. Got one. I drove to the pick up point just north of the Werner terminal in Phoenix. Pick up appointment is 1pm.
I backed the trailer starting from the street, back through an opening in a fence, and back up to the loading dock. ** This is my first backing not in a Werner yard. I did igreat. Didn't hit anything, and only had to do a few pull ups to get it straight. (while the trainer was sleeping finally.)

While they were loading our truck, I realized that the trailer has a very bald tire on it. We checked the tires when we hooked it up, but the big bald spot must have been on the bottom.
So... now we have to go back to the terminal to get a new tire.... time slipping by.... and now we are under a load with a deadline. (2:00pm - 3:55pm for tire replacement.)
Finally have good tires and are on our way. I'm driving. Yea!

Next weird thing....
As we were headed north a few blocks from the terminal toward the 10 Interstate.... we had to stop for a RailRoad Crossing, lights and sounds of an oncoming train.
Only... there is NO TRAIN. We waited from 4:05pm til 5:40pm.
Werner has a VERY strict policy... NO U-TURNS ever!
We call the home office Safety division. They say Wait.
So... we wait.
The police come by, but couldn't get the Railroad arms working. So we wait for them to contact the Transit Authority for the Railroad.
Finally the Transit Authority for the City showed up and started directing each vehicle to turn around, and they blocked off the road for incoming traffic.
We got approval from the home office to follow the directive. We finally get turned around and go another way to the interstate. I drive from 5:40pm until about 9pm. I drive up to Flagstaff, AZ. At Flagstaff, my trainer decides that she should drive the rest of the way.

She starts driving at 9pm. I stay awake with her for a few hours, then try to sleep while the truck is in motion. (not so good, but I get some "cat naps" in). At 9:30am the next morning I wake up and we are at a rest stop about 169 miles from Salt Lake City. I suggest that I drive now, but she says she wants to take the load all the way. Her 14-hour clock will end at 11am. She goes over her 14-hour clock. We finally arrive in Salt Lake at 12:30pm at a Sapp's Brothers truck stop and get fuel. Again, I suggest that I can drive. Again, she says that she will drive to the Werner yard where we are to drop the trailer.
At 1:30pm, after the trailer is dropped, then she lets me drive, about 2 miles to a Wal-Mart parking lot (to get something to eat at a restaurant next door), then about 10 miles to my hotel. All together about 20 mins of driving.

I then spend 4 days in a hotel, and really get to missing my husband, Leroy.
It was then that I decide to quit Werner, take a bus home (18 hours), and start driving team with Leroy.

There were some issues with my trainer....like her not having any money-so I was buying her meals, and no cell phone-so she borrowed mine all the time, and not letting me drive, and telling me how to walk across the street, and being very sarcastic and negative--but I could have just asked for another, different trainer.... but the real reason I quit was because I missed my husband and didn't want to be away from him any longer. One month was too long.
So Home I went. Yea!