9/20/07

I headed up to Port Huron and across into Canada a little ahead of schedule this morning, in hopes that they would unload me and get me back home as soon as possible. Before leaving the terminal, I checked in to pick up my paperwork from the dispatcher. The same guy from yesterday's phone conversation was working this morning. He mentioned that he was going to deadhead me right back out of Canada as soon as I was empty, without my even mentioning it. That was a good sign.

The drive up wasn't nearly as congested as I had expected it to be. Given the fact that I had to go through Detroit at rush hour and navigate the construction zones, I was prepared for the worst. The traffic at the border was moving pretty well too, so all in all not a bad ride.

My customer was a hazardous waste landfill. It was a unique experience for me. I checked in and had to watch a video regarding safety procedures before they could let me inside the gate. Then a guy came out and escorted me back to the site. It was some pretty tight terrain that I had to negotiate, obstacle course style. Then they had me back my trailer up to another trailer so that a few guys could move the boxes from the former to the latter, by hand. That was something new. As you can imagine, the 900 boxes took a little while, but they got me out of there well ahead of my appointment time. I was grateful. When I asked if there was a place to turn around, the answer was no. I had to get out by doing a little serpentine backing which, much to my surprise, I handled flawlessly.

I didn't receive a dispatch to Taylor right away, but I headed back toward the bridge anyhow. I was taking the word of the dispatcher in good faith and proceeding accordingly. As I sat in the 90 minute backup on the bridge, I got my dispatch. They did in fact send me back to Taylor as promised and I did make it to my afternoon appointment on time. So in retrospect, I highlighted on Saturday and got home on Thursday (exactly five days later), earning a few bucks right to the end. That's about as well as a request for home time can go, I think.

I stopped by my parents' house this evening to pick up a package. When I'm out on the road, I find it easiest to just send my purchases to their house and then pick them up when I get back. My niece turned four years old last week, so I wanted to get her gift and take it to her. As luck would have it, my sister was at my parents' house, along with my niece and nephew. Sweet, saved me a trip. She was excited about her gift so that was pretty cool.

After that, it was the usual dinner with friends and a twelve pack to wrap up the evening. That seems to be a pretty standard 'day one' routine whenever I come home. Tomorrow I'll have quite a bit to get done before we hit the road for South Bend. I need to do some shopping, some packing, some planning, and whatnot.

Now, I've taken a lot of shit from a lot of people this year, and for good reason. Our Lady's lads haven't exactly fought the good fight. That being said, one thing nobody can take away from the Irish is class. You see, people with class don't plant flags in opposing teams' fields. That's what low-rent douchebags (aka 2005 Michigan State) do for fun. So, Sparty, you looked even more like a bunch of douchebags last year when you stood on your field waiting for something that was never going to happen...