Jump back in with both feet. That's my motto. Some snow, some mountains, some DC traffic, and some decent miles. Not a bad first day.
I woke up early and called the terminal to have them put me on the board. The typical next step would be that they tell me I'm #15 and I go back to bed. Not today. I was #1, so I got my ass up and headed to work. During the five minute drive and five minute stop at McDonald's, I was assigned to a load. The only catch was that my truck batteries had no juice (8 days in the cold) so I couldn't see the load information. Obviously, I also could not start my truck.
So the dude from the terminal came out with the battery jumper machine thing and hooked it up. No dice. So he got some tools and pulled off the step and cover plate, so he could get at the battery. Then he hooked the machine directly to the battery. No dice, but it did start smoking and shit. That was pretty cool. Next he switched the input to 12 volts and tried it that way. No more smoke, but not enough juice to get it cranking. After a half hour of dicking around, we came up with a very scientific plan. He would re-connect the smoking 24 volt input and I would try to get the truck fired up before anything exploded. Then he could unplug it really fast and maybe nobody would get hurt. Yep, that worked. Sweet.
Hooked up, inspected, and fueled, it was back to the road time for me. After eight days without sitting in the driver's seat of this truck, it only took about twenty seconds to get back into the swing of things. I guess it's like riding a bike or something. I don't know.
I'm heading down to Suffolk, Virginia for a delivery tomorrow afternoon. I may or may not have been able to squeeze the full 706 miles into a single shift today, but the appointment is for 2:30pm tomorrow and I'm not in any hurry. The first day back is usually a little more tiring than most. I managed to knock out a little over eight hours of driving today so that's good enough. I've stopped at the scale/rest area just inside Virginia so I'll have a little more driving to do in the morning. Then maybe we can get something nice for the weekend and settle right back in.
Hey that's weird about your location. As you know I follow your nlog. I was in a Walmart last night and I swear the guy in front of me stocking up on things was you. It turned ot not to be. I get up This Friday morning and read you blog and find out that your going to Suffolk. That is a couple of minutes from me in Franklin Virginia. If you see a Franklin Police car attempting to pull you over , don't worry it will be me to say hello.
ReplyDeleteScott
Hi Scott. Thanks for the heads-up (I think). I still harbor a bit of lingering distrust for cops, but I'm working on it. I guess you might have had to grow up in a big city to know what that's all about.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to get rolling, but I still haven't decided if I'm going over I-64 and down (quick way) or across on US-460 (short way). I usually take 460 to Suffolk, but I think today I might change it up a little. That bay is a nice sight to see on occasion.
I'm pretty lousy with predictions, but if I had to make one I'd say my next load might leave QVC in Suffolk and head west. I guess that would leave me at your mercy on 58 for a few miles. I don't speed though, so I wouldn't sweat it (too much) if I saw the lights flashing behind me.
Cheers