2/14/08

My heart was full of joy today - February 14th. Birds were whistling in the trees and the wind was gently laughing. Valentine's Day? Nah, you bunch of pansies, pitchers and catchers reported for spring training. Our nation's annual rebirth has come again.

The drive was a pretty long but uneventful one. My 65mph truck is apparently faster than most 65mph trucks, so I guess that's pretty cool. I set the cruise at 65 and kicked back, but wound up passing several other big company trucks (including a few CTL trucks) along the way. I've never had much luck getting across the Mississippi in the afternoon, so I stopped and took a nap in Rolla. For some reason, a couple of hours' sleep in the afternoon does me far more good than any amount of sleep at night. After that, I got up and finished the drive. Rush hour had passed and things went smoothly.

The load that I delivered was apparently something that was shipped from Illinois to Laredo, then sent back to Illinois. I don't know what that's all about, but I get paid by the mile so it's not my problem. The only catch was that nobody at the shipper/consignee was really sure what to do with me. The bills said dock 11, my directions said dock 8, and I wound up unloading at dock 12. The guys in there were bitching about the fact that they're not supposed to unload trailers on the third shift. I told them I was content to go to bed and they could unload me in the morning. Makes no difference to me. Eventually they decided just to unload me tonight, so that was that.

I usually ask the people at the customer's location for a suggestion on where to park. Since I'm pretty much useless when it comes to trip planning, they tend to have some pretty useful knowledge of their areas. These guys had nothing to offer. One security guard suggested a Wal-Mart on the way back toward Peoria. As I turned onto the access road for Highway 6, I found a spot that should work for the night. I don't know the legal ins and outs, but I'm on a gravel area a good 30 feet from the road so that's good enough for me.

My paycheck today was not so great, given the Laredo situation from last week. I did get 40 bucks for detention on a load that I pulled in November, so I guess that helps. I'll have to call my fleet manager in the morning to make sure my layover pay from last week will be on the next check. I also need my 35 bucks from unloading cardboard at UPS a while back. Apparently that stuff is processed differently under the ConWay system, but I still haven't gotten it. Two checks have gone by since then, so it should have been paid by now. I talked to my fleet manager about it last week and his records show that he submitted the paperwork, so apparently I'll need to break a few thumbs up in Portland. Anyhow, between the layover, that 35 bucks, the 1239 miles I have right now, and whatever I get for the weekend, the next check should kick me back into gear.

Since I'm officially a resident of Laredo, Texas now, I'm none too thrilled about the fact that it's 29 degrees outside. If that's the price of actually getting back to work though, I guess I'll survive.