9/15/07

After waiting all day yesterday for a load, I knew the overnight run was going to be a challenge. I got into Maryland before I really started to feel tired, but I was holding my own. By the time I got into Virginia, I was really tired. I needed to make some quick calculations and see if a quick rest stop was possible. The driver who gave me the load in Ohio last night said it was due in Virginia at 5:30am. My dispatch said I needed to be there by 6:30am. If 5:30 was correct, I was going to be late. If 6:30 was correct, I could maybe take a breather. I sent a message asking for clarification and received a reply saying that 6:30 was the appointment time. After receiving that news, I immediately pulled over. I figured out how far I had to go and then took a 20 minute power nap.

Waking up quite refreshed, I finished the run and arrived at 6:20. I checked in with the security guard, who promptly informed me that I was an hour late for my 5:30 appointment. Bad information from Joplin? Who would have guessed? After I was assigned to a dock, I drove over to the warehouse. There was, of course, a trailer in my assigned door. I went inside and asked the receiving clerk what I was supposed to do. Apparently the trailer was empty and they just hadn't informed the driver yet. He pulled his trailer and I backed in. After dropping my trailer and parking in the bobtail area, I walked in to tell them I don't have a CB so they needed to come and get me when I was done. They told me that, since I was late, I would be worked in whenever they had time. I was so exhausted that I didn't care if they took all day. I was going to sleep.

After a few hours of very deep sleep, the yard driver woke me up and told me I was ready to go. I went back in with my Comcheck for the unloading, paid the bill, hooked to my trailer, and headed to the local truck stop. After another nap, I checked my board status. #1 and requested for home. My 14 hour clock was up by then, so I took myself off the board and watched some football. We won't talk about that. I went back on the board this evening and was again #1.

Now I'm sitting about 600 miles from home and need to be there within the next five days. If experience is any guide, I'll be home tomorrow or Monday. I had hoped to squeeze another dispatch in before midnight on the current paycheck, but that looks unlikely at this point. I'm at 5,300 miles right now, so not too spectacular. Given the way the month started with the holiday weekend and whatnot, it could be worse. Once my holiday pay and northeast bonus pay are added in, I'll be over $2,000 for the pay period so I won't worry too much about it.

The Tigers won and the Yankees lost, so at least my day as a baseball fan was better than my day as a football fan. I owe a big thanks to the guys who moderate MyP2P Forum. They do a huge service for those of us who often rely completely on the internet for our television viewing choices. Since the channel selection on TVU went to shit, SopCast seems to be the best bet and these guys put a ton of content on there for guys like me to see. Much obliged fellas. The only TV network that I could get on the television in my truck today was NBC, so the streaming broadcasts on my computer made my day more enjoyable.

9/14/07

I was able to wait long enough to complete a 34 hour restart at home before running over to the customer this morning. Once I got there, things went pretty quickly and I was dispatched back to the terminal. I told them to give me a call when my turn came up, as I was #7 on the board. The guys in Taylor usually say they'll call me and they never do, but there was no point in hanging around the yard waiting for my turn.

I began day one of the 'bunk up' experiment this afternoon. I went through the truck pretty thoroughly. Everything on board was put to a simple test. Have I touched it within the last month? If the answer was 'no,' the item was removed from the truck. I managed to clear enough clutter to allow me to raise the top bunk. Until today, I had used it for storage. I'm not really sure why I felt like changing it, but a change of scenery seemed to be in order, so there you go. We'll see how long it takes until I start looking around the truck for something that I left at home today.

I spent the bulk of my afternoon playing Civilization III on my desktop PC at home. The Russians sneak-attacked me, so I brought the British and the Germans in to help out. Then the Germans turned on me, so I got the Greeks and Chinese on my side. Then the Germans turned the British against me. It was a long and brutal struggle, but I prevailed.

I called the CFI phone system periodically to check my board status. #5, #5, #5, #4, #4, #3, #3, #3, #3, #3 (#3 took a while), "You have a message pending and are assigned to a load."

What happened to #2? I have a full slate of hours available, so I guess I jumped a couple of people. I didn't get a choice of loads, which caused a little concern. As today passed without me going anywhere, I was faced with the choice to just take my home time now or run the risk of getting an unfavorable assignment vis a vis my plans for next week. In a perfect world, I would go somewhere east of the Mississippi, around 500-600 miles from home. That way I could highlight tomorrow and get another 500-600 miles coming back up.

So the suspense must be killing you at this point. How did the Godfather's gambit play out? I was sent to Stony Ridge, Ohio to take a relay from another driver and run it to Virginia for tomorrow morning. Beauty. That will be perfect.

On the way down, I noticed that a hissing sound was coming from my dashboard. It sounded to me like there was something letting air escape and my tanks were pumping the air out as the compressor pumped it in. That's what it sounded like to me. I'm not a mechanic. I pulled over and checked it out. Turns out I was right. One of the air chambers on my trailer was failing to hold air. With the truck rolling, enough air was being pumped back there to operate the brakes, but it wasn't good. So I was in a pretty shitty spot. I didn't want to give the other driver a broken trailer but I needed to make my relay. When I got to the Petro on I-280, they had me in the bay almost immediately. Now, once I'm out (which should be very soon) I'll be good to go.

Overnight driving, the stuff that dreams are made of.

9/13/07

I came into today with big plans to get a lot done. Instead, I took it easy and relaxed. I guess things could be worse. I lost a wager (for entertainment purposes only) when TCU couldn't hold a late lead against Air Force. I suppose that's what I get for gambling. I'm a born loser, as nearly as I can tell.

I got my laundry done. I guess that's one thing accomplished. I made it through a humongous pile of mail. Two months on the road can leave quite a bit of accumulation. I sent a few faxes that I needed to send. Got some files transferred from my laptop to my desktop. I guess it wan't a totally wasted day, but it was pretty heavy on the relaxation.

Tomorrow morning's appointment is for 9:45am so I won't have to wake up terribly early. After that I'll get back on the board and hopefully get back on the road quickly. I'm looking for something to keep me in the midwest and allow me to be back here by next Thursday. Stay tuned for details.

Oh shit, I almost forgot... Michigan fans. Um, the banner in the upper left of this little gem is all you need to read. One week every year I know the Ohio State fans will give me a laugh. They still haven't let me down.


I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

9/12/07

As I sat at the truck stop and whittled away the evening last night, two more CFI drivers pulled in across the way. We'll call them Driver 2 and Driver 3, as I was #1 on the board at the time. When I woke up this morning, Driver 3 was gone. I assumed that he had just been stopping to spend the night on the way to a drop. A few minutes later he pulled back into the parking lot and stopped by to chat. I guess he must have driven over to the fuel island to use the bathroom or something. I don't know. Anyway, he said he got a load assignment at midnight, picking up in Richmond and going to Ontario. He was unhappy about going to Canada, to which I replied, "Doesn't sound so bad to me." He asked if I would want to go to Canada. I said, "Beats sitting here."

I crawled back in the bunk for a little while, then got my load assignment. I, too, was going to Richmond to get a load. 35 miles away, no problem. After I used the restroom and walked back to my truck, I ran into Driver 2. Driver 3 was gone at that point. "How did that guy get going before us," he asked. Pretty good question. I hadn't thought about it. I guessed that maybe he had more hours available or something. "No, we both picked up and dropped off at the same place," Driver 2 continued. "He didn't have more hours." Very interesting. One has to wonder when things like that go on - just what are the planners doing? The planners would hand you some bullshit about how Driver 3 was highlighted for home or something like that if you tried to question them, but he wouldn't have been going to Canada if that were the case. As nearly as I can tell, he got in last, got a load first, and got more miles on his run than Driver 2 or myself. After a few more minutes of conversation, mainly concerning the fact that Driver 2's miles have been even worse than mine this month, I took off.

The customer in Richmond was prompt in getting me loaded, which is always nice. Then I started heading north. I'll be dropping off in Brownstown, Michigan Friday morning. Two days to go 600 miles is not so great, but at least I get a side benefit. I live ten miles from Brownstown. So I left the truck at the yard and headed home. The day off, while not really needed, will give me a chance to get a few things accomplished around town.

Now I'm stuck in a familiar Catch-22. I had planned to highlight for home on Friday. Instead I'll be at home on Friday. So, if I highlight, they'll say, "Okay go home." Then I burn an extra five days with no money coming in when I don't need to be home until Thursday. If I don't highlight, I run the risk of going too far away and not making it back by Thursday. I really haven't had a great month so far (around 4,700 miles) so I can't afford to give up the next few days of work. Since I'll be under local dispatch in Taylor, I'll have some say in which load I get. Hopefully I can pick one somewhere in the midwest so I still make it back. I guess we'll see.

9/11/07

I got a decent night of sleep last night, so that was a nice change. When I woke up and looked outside, it was immediately apparent that today was going to be work. Quite a few days out here just seem like a long drive with the radio on. Going through West Virginia and Virginia in a steady rain is much more like labor.

I got a pretty major scare about five minutes after I started driving this morning. I came over a hill and noticed a green light at the bottom. Since the roads were wet, I started slowing down in anticipation of the light changing. As I approached the intersection the light did turn yellow. I had allowed plenty of stopping distance, so I just had to increase the pressure on the brakes a little to complete the stop. When my loaded trailer came off of a little rise, the forward thrust changed the story in a hurry. I was shoved forward, picking up about 5mph instantly. Then I hit a bumpy patch on the road. Long story short, the trailer started to slide out to my right and my drive tires broke traction. I had about a tenth of a second to decide what to do. Getting off the brake would make me go into the intersection. Staying on the brake could mean a jackknife. I went with my instinct and stepped on the gas. I was going to run a red light, so I blew the air horn and tried to make eye contact with the driver of the car sitting at the light. Fortunately he was paying attention. If he had just blindly moved when the light turned green, this might have been a very tragic story.

I've had all day to reflect and I really can't see what else I might have done. I was traveling slowly, certainly within a suitable limit for the conditions. I took a pretty good measure of my stopping distance, allowing a substantially longer margin that I should have needed. My equipment was inspected and working properly. I was alert and aware of the surroundings. I guess sometimes things just go wrong. In a split second, all of those stories you hear can become reality. It's a pretty sobering experience, to say the least.

West Virginia... yeah, whatever. I have nothing further to say about that state.

The fuel stop in Greenville, Virginia was packed as usual. I went in to get my receipt and grab a few supplies, then got back on my way. A Stevens driver was trying to back into a space, forcing all of us trying to exit the truck stop to wait for about ten minutes. I guess it's better safe than sorry, but it gets annoying when you just want to get back on the road.

I took the Richmond bypass and hit the area right at rush hour. Aside from a few slow merging points, it wasn't all that bad, so I managed to complete today's run in 7.5 hours' time. The WalMart security guard actually processed my paperwork ahead of a few WalMart drivers. That was a pleasant surprise. I don't know what the actual protocol is supposed to be, but quite a few of those guys make us OTR drivers wait until they check-in the WalMart drivers. The drop/hook was a typical ho-hum deal for the most part. My assigned space was occupied (per usual) so I took the nearest one. It was pretty tight, but I had plenty of room to pull forward and get situated.

On the way down, I didn't see any truck stops or rest areas nearby, so I asked the security guard on my way out. He directed me to a place only a couple of miles away, which is where I now sit. I have about three hours left on my 14 hour clock, but I won't hold my breath as far as tonight is concerned. I will have some hours to work with tomorrow, so I'm optimistic.

I was listening to the radio most of the day. I find it very alarming that people seem so far removed from the events of six years ago. It's almost as if they would prefer to forget what happened, if they haven't forgotten already. I've said before that this is not a political blog and I don't intend to get into it, but we go down a very dangerous road when our memories are so short. That's all I really have to say about that. A friend of mine was in WTC 1 when the plane hit it. He got out alive, but somehow I doubt that he will forget a thing.

9/10/07

Vending machine technology has come a long way. Now, when you buy something, they have some kind of photosensor to make sure the product actually drops. When I woke up today I wanted a bag of Skittles. I was really in the mood to taste the rainbow, so I headed to the machine and fed it a buck. My Skittles got caught on the spiral thing and didn't vend. But wait... bzzz... the machine turned a little further and my bag, along with the one behind it, dropped to their destiny. A two-fer! Small victories, my friends, small victories.

I rolled on to the customer in Groveport and stopped to check with the guard. My seal number was written on the bills in blue ink, but there was a pre-printed number that had been crossed out. The guard didn't know what to do. He asked if I had to go right away or if I could wait until the morning shift got there. I probably should have told him to take a hike, but I had a hell of a time trying to fall asleep last night so I told him no problem. I pulled off to the side and took a nap for an hour or so. When he came and woke me up, he told me to go inside and talk to the receiving department. The lady there basically confirmed what I thought. Customs probably inspected the load coming out of Mexico and had it re-sealed. No big deal. "I don't know why he didn't just have you drop it when you got here." Me neither lady, me neither.

After I hooked to my empty and sent in my empty call, I had to find a place to park. I was a long way from any truck stop or rest area, so I started looking for this one business that seems to have locations all over the country. I'm not sure what they do, but their employess must not drive cars because their parking lots are always empty. Since I was in an industrial park, I was pretty confident that I would find one of their locations. The place is called For Lease. I think it's an Italian phrase or something. Anyhow, they had two locations in that industrial park so I was in luck. I pulled over and lay down to get some rest. I didn't sleep for shit last night, so I needed a little shut-eye.

Ten minutes later I got beeped. Picking up 25 miles away this afternoon. Cool, lay back down. Then the "Happy birthday" phone calls started trickling in, so yeah I didn't get any sleep.

It was a quick ride down to the next pickup. After I checked in, the lady told me to pull along the curb and wait for a door to be assigned. Thirty seconds later a door was assigned. I had to back into this place with the docks set back inside a warehouse, so the left side of my truck was pretty damn close to a concrete pillar. I made it without incident and dropped my trailer, then bobtailed over to the waiting area. And waited. And waited. By the time I got loaded, my 14 hours were almost gone. My plans to get most of the way there tonight went up in smoke.

I had to find a place to shut down, so I'll have to use a full day of driving to get there tomorrow. Wasted days pretty much suck and this was one of them. Once this is dropped off, I'll be sitting at 4,100 miles with four and a half days left to go. Hopefully I can finish strong.

9/9/07

Well, today's drive wasn't too bad at all. Just a long day, but the traffic was light, the weather was good, and I wasn't heavy enough to have any problems with the hills. The Redskins managed to win but, in my first return to active baseball fan participation, the Tigers took an ass-kicking.

Whenever I find myself along the old Route 66, a couple of things stand out. First is the vast number of boarded-up businesses. Obviously the interstates were going in full force by the time I was born, so I have no idea what life was like before them. I tend to imagine that it was pretty cool to cruise out toward California and stop in all those little towns along the way. The second thing that stands out is the sheer number of porn shops on that route. What in the hell is up with that, and why didn't they become extinct when the freeways were built? I guess porn is recession-proof.

I ran out of hours a little short of Columbus, so I'll have to finish off after a ten hour break. My stop is in an industrial park just outside the southern loop. From the look of the area on Google Earth, it appears to be relatively new and looks to accomodate trucks quite well. From there, I would have to guess I'll go to Columbus and get some beer. That seems to be the routine whenever I am in this area. Of course, I wouldn't mind breaking that routine as I do not enjoy beer loads.