4/3/08

Yeah, those directions saying that the second drop would be a bitch were quite accurate. I got unloaded in Colorado Springs and made the quick drive up to Englewood. Here's the skinny:

Pull in, kick the trailer to the right, back through a tight alley, kick it further to the right around a corner, then jack it back left into the dock. The yellow outlines show you size of a 53' trailer relative to the surroundings and a dumpster that is obscured by the shadows. Looking at that picture though, and thanks to the wonderful work of the graphic artists here at the Fenian Godfather Institute, it seems that it shouldn't be so tough. Well here's what they looked like up close and personal as I sat at the dock:

Good times... good times.

Then it was over to Parker for the final drop. That stop had an address but no directions. Streets & Trips had some trouble with the address and it wasn't clear to me just how I should get there. So I checked the website of the customer to get a better idea of where they were located. Their directions were off by about a mile, but at least they got the street correct. I rolled into the lot right at my appointment time, so no harm no foul. The driveway led to the back of the shopping center, between two stores. My customer was to the right, so I turned right. Nowhere to turn around. Should have turned left. So I backed down behind the other store, pulled forward out into the driveway between the stores, and 90 degree backed it around the corner toward the customer's dock. That one had a dumpster about six inches from where I needed to line up with the dock. It should have been placed closer to the building, giving me plenty of room, but I guess the garbage men just like to make it interesting sometimes. Even so, it wasn't as crazy as the one in Englewood. Good times... good times.

From there, I drove up to the Flying J in Aurora to get some lunch. My guess was that I would be getting beer from Fort Collins or soda from Denver. In either case, Aurora would be in the right direction. Even at 1:30pm, it was pretty damn crowded. There were spots open, but they were tight. It seems that I've had quite a few days lately where I couldn't back my truck worth a damn. That's one good thing about these retail store runs. They'll get that shit out of your system in a hurry. I rolled it into my space in one motion, like a pro.

I hung around for a couple of hours and then decided to take a nap. That's the one documented way to make sure I get an assignment. As soon as I started to drift off, there was the beep. My next run is a load of beer going from Fort Collins to El Paso. I have to pick up at 7am, so I set my alarm for early tomorrow morning and went back to bed. A few hours later, I was wide awake. Story of life.

Since I wasn't sleeping, I checked my directory and saw that there was a truck stop in Loveland with a big parking lot. I decided to head north and take the chance on finding a spot to park for the night. The big lot was here, but a third of it is occupied by dropped trailers. I circled for about twenty minutes until I caught someone leaving, so now I'm settled in.

Fort Collins is about 15-20 miles north of here. I'll head up in the morning and hopefully get in and out of the brewery with no major delays. I seem to remember my last beer load being a big hassle. The irony of this run has not escaped me. Fort Collins to El Paso, I-25, more I-25, and then some more I-25. This highway, of all the interstates in this country, is the one most likely to make me say, "I really could use a beer right now." Since I'll be pulling 45,000 pounds up and down the mountains, I have no illusion that the drive will be anything close to enjoyable. There will be several thousand beers a few yards behind me, and I can't have any. Life is just cruel sometimes.