After weeks of work, we finally had everything in place to begin operations as a trucking company hauling freight. We searched the load boards, found a load we liked, made the call and booked the load.
After a little paperwork to complete the carrier packet online and after getting the rate confirmation taken care of I was soon on my way to Danville VA to pick up our very first load.
It was a short ride, about thirty or so miles away and soon enough I found the place and checked in with shipping and receiving. The pickup number we were given by the broker was wrong and they were looking for an eight-digit number beginning with 9 – so after a call to the broker he was able to dig that out of his records somewhere and we were all set. As soon as they had the right number she gave me a door assignment.
“Back in to door 37, and the light will turn red, then later back green – when it goes back to green pull out and you will find your paperwork and a seal in the trailer…” I said ‘Thanks” and with that proceeded to back into the door.
The picture above is of our truck (the one to the left) in the dock waiting to be loaded on our very first load with our own authority. It only took them about half an hour or so to finish loading the trailer with plastic film bound for a stop in Midlothian VA and then on to Winchester VA for the final stop.
It was not due to be delivered until the following day, so back to the house I went.
The next morning I got up early, did my pre-trip inspection on the truck and trailer, and headed off to Midlothian to our first stop. It was an uneventful trip and though the location was a little tight – it wasn’t bad and the people were really friendly and fast at getting it unloaded. I completed that stop, checked my directions, and headed off toward Winchester which would be a few more hours away.
As I left the first stop the guy there said “Good thing you are leaving now before the storm gets here!” I agreed, thanked him for the paperwork and unloading the trailer – and away I went.
The first few miles were fine – then I came around a curve on a two-lane road and found a tree down across the entire roadway!
That was not a view I wanted to see.
There was nowhere big enough to turn around, just yards with narrow driveways and a twisty windy two-lane road for miles back in the other direction. Even then, the road behind me was already full of cars and trucks – so I would not be going in any direction but forward. So I got out to take a look to see if maybe I and few other motorists might be able to drag this thing out of the way – and it became immediately obvious that was not an option.
The main limb was bigger than some trees – and it was still attached to the tree it fell from.
There was a guy in his driveway talking to a neighbor of his and he could not see why I had stopped because of a large bush blocking his line of sight. he looked curiously at me and asked ” What’s wrong?” I motioned for him to come towards me which he did – and I pointed to the tree in the road and said ” That would be the problem…” He was surprised that he had not heard or seen it fall just moments earlier even though it was just feet from where he was standing at the time.
Never the less he ran off to find his chain saw and soon returned and began cutting the thing up. Other neighbors soon arrived with their own chain saws and began doing the same. Quite a few motorists got out of their vehicles and came to help and we pulled the limbs away as they cut them loose until the road was once again clear.
I thanked them all and climbed back into my truck, and started driving again. Just as I made the turn onto the main road less than a mile away where it went to a four-lane divided highway – I saw VDOT and their trucks headed toward the scene. I smiled to myself – happy to be long gone before they even get there.
Thankfully I had built enough extra time into my trip plan that I still had enough left to make it to the consignee on time – and I did with about twenty minutes or so to spare. That’s another reason to always build in some extra time whenever possible because stuff happens as they say – like trees falling down and blocking the road.
When I arrived at the consignee there were no markings on the building that I could see anywhere, not even a street number – but they had left a door open and in it I went. I found a couple of guys unloading trucks and confirmed that indeed I was in the right place. They said as soon as the truck they were working on pulls out to go ahead and back into that same door – which I did a few minutes later. They had the truck unloaded and I had my signed bills within thirty minutes of bumping the dock.
First load complete – first revenue earned.
Since then we have booked and delivered many other loads and so the journey continues.
Want to see how it goes and share in the adventure as we continue to build TRS one load at a time?
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