Friday, August 20, 2010

I went over to pick up my next load.  It was bowling equipment in Chino, CA going to Ft. Worth,TX.  Was only a few miles from the truck stop I was at.  Basically it is stuff to build a bowling alley.  Got there at 9am local time. They started loading me shortly after I got there.  After I had the load on and secured they told me that there was a scale across the street so I could see if I was OK on my truck weight.  I was very happy to hear that and went and got on the scale.

 My gross, according to their scale, said that I was at 69,960. GREAT!!  So I went back across the street and tarped the load.  That took HOURS!!  The thermometer on my truck said 119 !!  It felt it too!! I was exhausted after finishing.

When I finished I started to drive off.  When I got out on the freeway the weight felt a lot heavier than 70,000 pounds so I went to the truck stop I had left in the morning.  Scaled up and sure enough I was overweight.  82,180 pounds.  I was over by 2,180 pounds.  It was now 4:45 pm local time.  I called them on the phone & told them my weight. They stayed over after closing to unload some of the cargo to get me "legal".  Have no idea why the other scale was so far off.

When I got there I had to take the rear tarp off, fold it up, then unstrap the cargo so they could unload. I got no help from them at all.  One guy stood there & watched me pull the tarp off, spread it out on the ground and fold it up.  Never offered to help or anything!!  And I still had not had lunch.  In the photo below, the bundle with the paper that says "medlite" was what they took off.  That bundle alone weighed 3,000 pounds.

Then I re-secured the load and re-tarped it again.  Of course after unloading that bundle they went home.  I finished at 7:15 local time.  Was so exhausted all I could do was go back to the truck stop.  I scaled up again.  This time I was legal, 79,020.  Parked, took a well deserved long shower, tried to eat something and fall in bed.