Butch's Thursday Drive~

 Making pet food is a 24/7 business in Meta, MO.  The company has eight facilities & is looking to buy more!  The road there was one of the most narrow, twisty trips Butch has made so far, which is probably why they have difficulty getting semi's in to pick up the loaded trailers.

Upon arrival the company asked each truck to go through the scale, so they know ahead of time how much weight in product they can load.  When he'd arrived, he was one of three CFI trucks waiting & twelve trucks total were in line ahead of him.  The operation was efficient though & Butch got through in decent time.

At the dock~

Truck/Trailer stats:

33,720 lbs. empty – Tractor/Trailer & ½ tank of fuel.

78,520 lbs. loaded

Steers – 11,780 lbs.

Drives – 32,680 lbs.

Tandems 33,600 lbs.

The load - 44,800 lbs. of dog & cat food!

The employee who was loading Butch's trailer, mentioned they have drivers come in who have no idea how to move the tandems & distribute the weight of the load.  The two brown bags in the center are filled with air, to keep the load from shifting.

Old grainery~

Butch used the last minutes of his drive time to go aross the scales & then had to creep at 5 mph to park for the night.  Since Meta is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, Butch was told he could park just across the way from the plant entrance.  He took his evening walk-a-bout while we were on the phone.

Diamond Pet Company

The population of the town is only 276 people, making the plant the primary & only large employer.

Beautiful old home~

As he was walking around town & taking a few photos, one man stopped to ask what he was doing.  Then another semi came in & Butch directed him to the correct location.  We both thought he might find a small cafe, but no luck.

Big Red, parked for the night~

Butch has learned it's not just about the driving, but its also a balancing act between how much time it takes to be loaded or unloaded, how many hours are on the drive clock & how effeciently he's dispatched to each destination.  Traffic plays a huge part too.  Sitting in rolling roadblocks, going nowhere - takes time.  Drivers would be happier out in the open, doing 65 mph. As the cities become more & more congested, it takes longer to reach any destination.

This last week, Butch drove over 3,100 miles.  His best weekly total since completing his OTR training the end of February.  From when he started, he's driven over 16,500 miles.  It will be interesting to see how many miles he's covered by the end of the year!