October 25, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Wednesday-Smith's Grove, Kentucky)
Woke in Smith's Grove, Kentucky, and headed south to Nashville, Tennessee around 2:30 AM. Stopped in Nashville at the "All Right Truckstop" for fuel. Because of my total weight of 78,880 lbs(80,000 lbs being the limit) at the start of the run, I don't want to put on much more fuel than what I used from Oakfield, Wisconsin. I figures about 100 gallons and 6 gallons for the tractor running while I was sleeping(I figure fuel while sleeping at 3/4 gallons per hour-just what I came up with). I put on 100 gallons and left for Chattanooga, Tennessee. Got passed the closed chicken coupe(state weigh station), the steep road grade south of Monteagle, Tennessee(Rocky Top), the well lighted fireworks companies, Nickajack Lake and the short stretch of I-24 going through Georgia-goes back into Tennessee- before entering Chattanooga. Found the warehouse before sun up, off of I-75 on the eastside of town. THE FUN IS JUST GETTING STARTED. I checked in with receiving which was open when I got there. I was told where to park and wait for a dock as they need to get all their trucks loaded and off to their stores before I can unload. Finally, after their docks where empty for a short while, I was told what dock to back up to. I had a time getting backed into the tight space, but I got in. I walked onto the dock and was asked if I was unloading or hiring a lumper(one who is paid to unload trailers). What? The cannery loaded all the cases on good pallets! Just unload the good pallets! NO....The dock foreman said they need all those cases loaded onto heavy paper squares. I called dispatch to get the OK for a lumper and was told "OK". The lumper didn't like the amount of pay I was OKed for so I said I would make up the difference. It was only $20 out of my pocket. After I was unloaded, I was informed that 90 cases of beans were being rejected as they claim they didn't order them. The rejected ones were on the paper squares(fork trucks were set up to handle the squares) and had been put back on my trailer with all the unwanted pallets. I said I needed to call dispatch again and the dock foreman told me to move my truck to the waiting area first as they needed my space to unload another truck. I did and called dispatch. Was told to call back in about 15 minutes. Called back and was told that they would take the cases. Talked to the dock foreman to get another dock to back into and he said that he WAS NOT taking the 90 cases. I called dispatch again and was told to call back, which I did. Dispatch told me that they had talked to someone "upstairs" and they would take the cases. The dock foreman once again said,"NO". It was getting late now when I called dispatch AGAIN. They said to get a room for the night and call back with my motel room phone number. They would call me tomorrow morning when they "hopefully" get this resolved. I found a motel room close to the warehouse and called dispatch with the room number. Just watched TV, eat chips/dips/sausage and bought some junk food....