Ionia, Michigan: Pilot

This Pilot is one of the smallest I have ever been at. I think there are actual parking spots for ten trucks here, the rest are just scattered around. It is however the closest truck stop to where I deliver in Holland, Michigan, tomorrow morning. I could have driven all the way to the consignee tonight, but without knowing the parking situation it is better to do a good part of the driving today and have about an hour drive tomorrow morning.

This past week I haven't made any posts for a simple reason, I wasn't out driving. Considering the weather this little unplanned vacation worked out well for me. Now Monday I piked up a load in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Since it didn't deliver in Taylor, Michigan until Tuesday afternoon, I had plenty of time to stop in Perrysburg, Ohio, and sleep at home. After backing the truck into a spot in the terminal, I finally had the clutch do what it did on occasion on the road, refuse to engage. Fortunately there was a mechanic on duty, so I was able to show him the problem, and the verdict was in, the truck needed a new clutch. Tuesday morning I found out that that repair would not be a priority so I would have to change trucks. I had a choice of an automatic that was a bit dirty and a manual transmission that looked like someone had spewed dip all over the center console. I took the automatic.

Since I was having to change trucks, I emptied mine out that day and made arrangements with the terminal manager to be able to get in the garage on Wednesday to clean out my new truck. I also found some issues with it during my trip so it ended up spending the night in the garage after being worked on. Which meant it wasn't buried in the snow we had on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon, I headed over to the terminal and took about fours hours cleaning the interior of the truck. I started with TSP, and then redid the entire thing using Scrubbing Bubbles. Weird as it may sound, Scrubbing Bubbles work great cleaning dirty vinyl. I won't go into how nasty the water was in the bucket each time I emptied it out, lets just leave it at I used four buckets and threw out four previously white detailing towels.

After getting the interior in shape, I took advantage of being inside to give the truck a really good looking at, and found one of the rear wheel seals was just starting to go, that got fixed Thursday morning. I also got a call from dispatch about a load that picked up close on Thursday and delivered Friday in Indiana, about three hundred miles away. Thinking about it, and their recent track record, I called her back and rejected the load. I just didn't feel like sitting over the weekend three hundred miles from home for no good reason. She understood, and made the planning people understand as well, at least that was the way it was told to me. Now rejecting a load is something a driver is allowed to do at this company, but it isn't something you want to do if at all possible. First a note is place in your file, so permanent record time here. Your dispatcher will remember the fact that you rejected a load, and if they are looking for drivers to get rid of, it can come up on the negative side. I felt I had a good enough reason and record to be able to survive doing this, this one time. I don't think that this issue will come up because unless I end up mechanically stuck in Toledo again, I shouldn't be stuck with leaving the area at the end of the week.

I did end up working on Friday, driving a day cab along with another driver, out to West Middlesex, Pennsylvania. We then were able to grab a truck with a sleeper to take back to Toledo. The worst part is that the one we brought back had just been serviced, and was almost immaculate inside. I could have moved right in, but I had already done so much to this truck, the effort would not have been worth it.

Which brings us back to tonight and delivering tomorrow morning in Holland. Hopefully I will be able to get moving right away, or at least that day. There really are no truck stops around there so I really don't want to have to sit around to long. If I do, you can bet it will end up here. If I don't it will end up here as well, it just might take longer.