I returned home after leaving Werner, and started driving with my wonderful husband, Leroy.
Leroy worked for a company called TLC (Total Logistics Cargo) out of San Diego, CA.... actually Otay Mesa... right on the border to Mexico.
I joined him there.
TLC hauls almost exclusively for a company called Steelcase. Steelcase has a huge warehouse in the City of Industry, CA (COI). That is in the Los Angeles area.
Steelcase makes office furniture. Metal desks, chairs, filing cabinets, almost anything to do with office furniture.
We would deadhead (bobtail) from San Diego, CA up to COI, pick up a loaded trailer and do deliveries throughout California, and several times up to Puyallup, Washington.
We took loads to San Fransisco, Livermore, UCLA, Ventura, Kaiser at Woodland Hills, all over....
The people at TLC are very nice...
the only problem is the equipment (the trucks) are very OLD, and not in very good condition. Several have bad oil leaks, one truck had a really bad air leak in the primary air line.... Like 100 lbs of pressure to 0 lbs in 10 seconds. When we did the pre-trip and discovered this leak... we refused to drive the truck! They found us another truck. Most trucks don't have A/C or the A/C hardly works.... which is bad when you are trying to sleep while the other person is driving, or trying to sleep during the HOT days.
On our last run for TLC, we were headed to Puyallup, WA. We drove as far as Dunnigan, CA. and stopped at the Pilot truck stop there. We arrived about 2 am. Neither one of us had had very good sleep in the last couple of nights, so we both took sleeping pills and went right to sleep. When we woke up at 8am, we discover that our truck has been hit!!
Actually, "hit and run".
Luckily... there was a witness who saw the whole thing and got the trucking company name... and even tried to warn the driver using the CB, that he was backing into our truck... but the driver just kept backing. It must not have been a violent hit.... since he was backing up slowly... we figured it just slowly "mushed" the front hood to the right, and that is why we didn't feel anything... (that and the sleeping pills) :)
Leroy and a couple of men nearby pushed the hood back into place (as much as possible) and secured it with a bungee cord. We also tried to bungee cord the light back in place... that didn't work too well. :)
We called our boss, then we called the CHP (who wouldn't come out and take a report because the truck stop is private property, and there were no bodily injuries), and the same was true with the local Sheriff. We did get all the info from the witness and passed it on to TLC for them to follow up.
Since our load was due the next day, another TLC driver (who also was headed to the same delivery point) came over to our location. He and Leroy shuttled the two trailers. First our trailer, then the other guys trailer. They drove team, straight up and straight back - twice - 14 hours each way. That was a LOT of driving in a short time period.
I stayed with the damaged truck. I had to wait until Monday to take it into the Freightliner dealer in Sacramento (about 35 miles south). Two problems.... one: with the headlights out, I could only drive it during the daylight.... two: there were Fleas in the truck!!! It is hard to lay down to sleep, knowing you are going to be bitten... ouch! Itch, Itch, scratch, scratch.
While Leroy was shuttling the trailers.... I took the damaged truck to the Freightliner dealer. I got an Estimate... but the owner decided to have us bring the truck back to San Diego where she could take the truck to someone she knows who can fix it cheaper. So I drove south (about 30 miles) to another truck stop and waited for Leroy.
After Leroy returned to me, I was able to get to a Wal-Mart and get some Flea spray. Yea! We sprayed everything! bedding, matresses, pillows...everything. It was bad!
The good news... the day that Leroy returned to me was our Wedding Anniversary. (8/28/99)We celebrated 8 years!! We were just happy to be together again! ( We will do dinner and a movie after we get back to San Diego.)
Thank God for Pre-Pass. That allowed us to bypass the scales/weight stations while we limped back to San Diego in a damaged truck. We just drove during the daylight, and returned as quickly as possible.
This was our last run with TLC.
We started on 9/4/07 with a company called Sam Kholi Enterprises....
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