Go, Dog, Go!

What promised to be a lovely trip from the California coast through the Rockies to Detroit turned into a bit like the title of the Dr. Suess book featuring driving dogs.

The delivery instructions were very explicit on this load - do not be late as it needs to arrive between 3 and 5 a.m. to meet the production schedule at the receiver's location (Fresh Pak salad in Detroit). That wouldn't have been a problem except for a four-hour delay leaving Santa Barbara. Add to that the fact that the speed/rpm governor setting on our truck meant that the uphill sections of Utah and the Rockies were spent going about 35 mph and you end up with a trip during which we barely had time to "heed nature's call" if we were going to make the appointment.

With a little luck and putting the accelator to the floor, we managed to arrive at 4:45 a.m. - and then proceeded to wait for 4 1/2 hours! Needless to say, we let our fleet manager know. We'll see if anything comes of it.

We understand why Prime wants to limit the speed on it's company trucks (fuel mileage) and we really don't have a problem running at slower speeds since higher fuel mileage means pay bonuses for us. However, we are going to ask Cheryl, our fleet manager, if we can have the speed on our truck turned up (which Prime will do on your fleet manager's approval) - not because we want to go tearing across the flat lands but because we really need to be able to go faster than 35 mph uphill. Not only do we think it's a problem when it comes to being on time, it can also create a safety hazard as cars and trucks approach us from the rear.