As much as there was to say about yesterday, today brings... nothing. I fell asleep last night, ensconced in reading a good book, so I woke up and started where I left off. After a while, it occurred to me that I really didn't feel like driving today. I concluded that I might as well take the day off and get a 34 hour restart.
Last night, I forgot that I had already driven 40 miles or so of this trip, so I only have about 560 to my consignee by Monday at 9am. I'll take off from here tomorrow. Hopefully Jersey will have a place for me to park.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
2/15/08
Well, this blog is generally for the purpose of summarizing a day out here, so this one might be a novella. Here goes...
I hung out in Mossville for a little while after last night's drop. Before I went to bed, I sent in my hours of availability, only I used the hours that would be available in the morning. I figured it was the middle of the night so I would get a few hours' sleep before anything came up. CTL called my bluff. I was assigned almost immediately to deadhead to Gary, Indiana (Paris of the Midwest) and pick up a relay to Stony Ridge, Ohio. No rest for the wicked, I suppose. Glad I got that nap in Rolla. The logbook was going to require some engineering, but I needed some miles and they were getting me miles, so I wasn't about to complain.
I headed across Illinois and into Indiana. I showed up around 5am CST, ahead of my 7am scheduled arrival. The inbound truck was already there and, much to my surprise, there were parking spaces available nearby. So we made the swap. The driver from whom I took the relay was visibly annoyed by something. I observed that it was odd to deadhead someone over 150 miles in the middle of the night to pull a relay 211 miles and pass it off, so I guessed they must have been short on power in the area. She said that her original plan summary had her due in Stony Ridge at 17:30 EST. They sent her a message asking when she would be there, so she replied 17:00. And then they made her relay the load, since it was due in Pennsylvania by 21:00 tonight. She was pissed about losing the last part of the run, but honestly, why say it would take you another twelve hours to go 200 miles? I'm thinking that one is her fault, even if the plan summary was wrong.
So I boned across Indiana on the way to Stony Ridge. My dispatch said I was due in at 12:00, but I got the load early enough to allow for a quick catnap. That was a much needed break. I rolled into the Petro at 11:40 and saw nary a CTL truck in the lot. I made a call to see what was what and I was told that the outbound truck was still at his previous consignee. So I took a nap while my logbook recovered from last night's miscalculation. A few hours later I woke up, legal again, and the other truck still was nowhere to be found. He finally rolled in a little before 17:00 and his story actually trumped the other one.
This guy said that he was empty yesterday at 12:30, "not far from here." He apparently never got dispatched to come to Stony Ridge, so he never came to Stony Ridge. Then he got a call this afternoon, after the load was already terribly behind schedule, asking him why he was still at the consignee. Must be a new guy. The fleet managers have 70-80 trucks to manage, so sometimes they'll miss a dispatch. That does happen. When it happens to me, my approach is just to start toward whatever city the plan gave me and then send a message saying, "Dispatch me." If they change their mind and unassign me, they can just pay me the miles to wherever I had to turn around, and no damage is done. Especially for a ConWay relay, when we're supposed to be at the relay point early enough for a ten hour break before the swap, the idea is to get there and be ready. Again, the dispatcher may have erred, but I have to put this one on the driver. Why in the hell would he wait a whole day for a dispatch when he already had his assignment? Dunno man, not my problem. I'm just a peon. That load will be wicked late, but I did what I was supposed to do. That's enough for me.
Before I got to Stony Ridge this morning, I received a pre-plan for a load picking up 40 miles to the west and heading to New Jersey for Monday morning. It's not a huge weekend run, but combined with this morning's work it gets me to 2,260 miles for the week plus around twenty bucks in northeast pay. Considering I was in Laredo until Wednesday afternoon, I'm pretty happy with CTL's efforts. I got hosed pretty bad last week, so I was hoping they would be able to make it up to me. They did a pretty good job, as far as I'm concerned. I also got my layover pay for the time in Laredo added to this week's check. Sixty bucks a day won't make anyone rich, but it will take a little of the sting out of the shitty paycheck I got this morning.
So then it was off to Napoleon, Ohio. I got checked in down there and dropped my empty. The loaded trailer was sitting on a sheet of ice, so I had a hell of a time getting under it. It was so heavy that it kept squirting my truck forward like a bar of soap that you squeeze too tightly. Then I got smart, or so I thought. I got out and cranked the trailer up a little bit to make it more even with my fifth wheel. That way, I thought, it wouldn't be so hard for my truck to back under it. This load is a heavy bitch, so I was huffing and puffing from cranking it up. Then I inched back, ever so daintily. I felt the fifth wheel hit the trailer, so things were looking good. Then, as I watched in the mirror, the trailer started getting pretty damn close to my truck. Shit. Jumped the fifth wheel. So then I got to crank that damn thing way up. I may or may not have mentioned that I'm not in the greatest shape these days. Yeah, that was a workout. I got it up high enough to go back over the fifth wheel, pulled forward, lowered it back down, and finally got locked in. Phew!
I headed back to the Petro where I spent the afternoon. I have tomorrow and Sunday to cover a little over 600 miles, so I figured I'd call it a night here and hop the turnpike tomorrow. I thought I'd be able catch up tonight with a girl I know from Toledo. Alas, her number is no longer in service. Guess she graduated from UT at some point in the last two years. Bummer. With my delusions of a fun night tossed in the garbage, I decided I might as well get my fuel filters changed. I got the message from the shop yesterday and I'm already at a Petro, so now is as good a time as any. It looks like I'm next in line, so this marathon day may be done shortly.
I hung out in Mossville for a little while after last night's drop. Before I went to bed, I sent in my hours of availability, only I used the hours that would be available in the morning. I figured it was the middle of the night so I would get a few hours' sleep before anything came up. CTL called my bluff. I was assigned almost immediately to deadhead to Gary, Indiana (Paris of the Midwest) and pick up a relay to Stony Ridge, Ohio. No rest for the wicked, I suppose. Glad I got that nap in Rolla. The logbook was going to require some engineering, but I needed some miles and they were getting me miles, so I wasn't about to complain.
I headed across Illinois and into Indiana. I showed up around 5am CST, ahead of my 7am scheduled arrival. The inbound truck was already there and, much to my surprise, there were parking spaces available nearby. So we made the swap. The driver from whom I took the relay was visibly annoyed by something. I observed that it was odd to deadhead someone over 150 miles in the middle of the night to pull a relay 211 miles and pass it off, so I guessed they must have been short on power in the area. She said that her original plan summary had her due in Stony Ridge at 17:30 EST. They sent her a message asking when she would be there, so she replied 17:00. And then they made her relay the load, since it was due in Pennsylvania by 21:00 tonight. She was pissed about losing the last part of the run, but honestly, why say it would take you another twelve hours to go 200 miles? I'm thinking that one is her fault, even if the plan summary was wrong.
So I boned across Indiana on the way to Stony Ridge. My dispatch said I was due in at 12:00, but I got the load early enough to allow for a quick catnap. That was a much needed break. I rolled into the Petro at 11:40 and saw nary a CTL truck in the lot. I made a call to see what was what and I was told that the outbound truck was still at his previous consignee. So I took a nap while my logbook recovered from last night's miscalculation. A few hours later I woke up, legal again, and the other truck still was nowhere to be found. He finally rolled in a little before 17:00 and his story actually trumped the other one.
This guy said that he was empty yesterday at 12:30, "not far from here." He apparently never got dispatched to come to Stony Ridge, so he never came to Stony Ridge. Then he got a call this afternoon, after the load was already terribly behind schedule, asking him why he was still at the consignee. Must be a new guy. The fleet managers have 70-80 trucks to manage, so sometimes they'll miss a dispatch. That does happen. When it happens to me, my approach is just to start toward whatever city the plan gave me and then send a message saying, "Dispatch me." If they change their mind and unassign me, they can just pay me the miles to wherever I had to turn around, and no damage is done. Especially for a ConWay relay, when we're supposed to be at the relay point early enough for a ten hour break before the swap, the idea is to get there and be ready. Again, the dispatcher may have erred, but I have to put this one on the driver. Why in the hell would he wait a whole day for a dispatch when he already had his assignment? Dunno man, not my problem. I'm just a peon. That load will be wicked late, but I did what I was supposed to do. That's enough for me.
Before I got to Stony Ridge this morning, I received a pre-plan for a load picking up 40 miles to the west and heading to New Jersey for Monday morning. It's not a huge weekend run, but combined with this morning's work it gets me to 2,260 miles for the week plus around twenty bucks in northeast pay. Considering I was in Laredo until Wednesday afternoon, I'm pretty happy with CTL's efforts. I got hosed pretty bad last week, so I was hoping they would be able to make it up to me. They did a pretty good job, as far as I'm concerned. I also got my layover pay for the time in Laredo added to this week's check. Sixty bucks a day won't make anyone rich, but it will take a little of the sting out of the shitty paycheck I got this morning.
So then it was off to Napoleon, Ohio. I got checked in down there and dropped my empty. The loaded trailer was sitting on a sheet of ice, so I had a hell of a time getting under it. It was so heavy that it kept squirting my truck forward like a bar of soap that you squeeze too tightly. Then I got smart, or so I thought. I got out and cranked the trailer up a little bit to make it more even with my fifth wheel. That way, I thought, it wouldn't be so hard for my truck to back under it. This load is a heavy bitch, so I was huffing and puffing from cranking it up. Then I inched back, ever so daintily. I felt the fifth wheel hit the trailer, so things were looking good. Then, as I watched in the mirror, the trailer started getting pretty damn close to my truck. Shit. Jumped the fifth wheel. So then I got to crank that damn thing way up. I may or may not have mentioned that I'm not in the greatest shape these days. Yeah, that was a workout. I got it up high enough to go back over the fifth wheel, pulled forward, lowered it back down, and finally got locked in. Phew!
I headed back to the Petro where I spent the afternoon. I have tomorrow and Sunday to cover a little over 600 miles, so I figured I'd call it a night here and hop the turnpike tomorrow. I thought I'd be able catch up tonight with a girl I know from Toledo. Alas, her number is no longer in service. Guess she graduated from UT at some point in the last two years. Bummer. With my delusions of a fun night tossed in the garbage, I decided I might as well get my fuel filters changed. I got the message from the shop yesterday and I'm already at a Petro, so now is as good a time as any. It looks like I'm next in line, so this marathon day may be done shortly.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
2/13/08
Even as lazy as I am, it was nice to finally get out and work for a change. I was #17 when I woke up, and it was a few hours later that I got a load headed for Illinois.
I covered a little over 600 miles today, but it was mostly a feeling-out process with my new ride. The suspension seems a little better. I didn't get pounded as badly by the bumps, but I think there is a tradeoff in terms of a slight understeer compared to the older model. The pedals are different. The change in the way the pedals feel under my foot, combined with the overall quieter sound, left me running the RPMs a little higher than normal for quite a while. I think I'm getting used to that. The new Qualcomm thing is pretty cool I guess. It started reading the directions to me when my fuel recommendations came through. Apparently I was supposed to leave the terminal and go to the Federated States of Micronesia. I have no idea where that is, so I just used my own directions. The climate control is a hundred times better on this truck. On my old truck, I had 'wicked hot' or 'wicked cold' so I spent most days flipping between the two choices. It had the red and blue adjustment knob thing, but anything above the absolute cold setting made it completely hot. This one actually gives me the in-between range. Oh yeah, and it goes 65mph. Fun.
Anyhow, I have to be at the customer by Friday morning. The dispatcher in Laredo said it's a 24 hour place, so I'm going to try and get there tomorrow night. That should get me at the top of the board when the planners get to work Friday. I have some serious ground to make up after the last week, so I'm hoping for a good weekend. I don't know if they still have me highlighted for Joplin, but I hope not. I will need to get my inverter re-installed and have the windshield fixed, but until I get a few more dollars in the bank I can live without those things.
I covered a little over 600 miles today, but it was mostly a feeling-out process with my new ride. The suspension seems a little better. I didn't get pounded as badly by the bumps, but I think there is a tradeoff in terms of a slight understeer compared to the older model. The pedals are different. The change in the way the pedals feel under my foot, combined with the overall quieter sound, left me running the RPMs a little higher than normal for quite a while. I think I'm getting used to that. The new Qualcomm thing is pretty cool I guess. It started reading the directions to me when my fuel recommendations came through. Apparently I was supposed to leave the terminal and go to the Federated States of Micronesia. I have no idea where that is, so I just used my own directions. The climate control is a hundred times better on this truck. On my old truck, I had 'wicked hot' or 'wicked cold' so I spent most days flipping between the two choices. It had the red and blue adjustment knob thing, but anything above the absolute cold setting made it completely hot. This one actually gives me the in-between range. Oh yeah, and it goes 65mph. Fun.
Anyhow, I have to be at the customer by Friday morning. The dispatcher in Laredo said it's a 24 hour place, so I'm going to try and get there tomorrow night. That should get me at the top of the board when the planners get to work Friday. I have some serious ground to make up after the last week, so I'm hoping for a good weekend. I don't know if they still have me highlighted for Joplin, but I hope not. I will need to get my inverter re-installed and have the windshield fixed, but until I get a few more dollars in the bank I can live without those things.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
2/12/08
Look at that. Don't say anything. Just look. I've never been so relieved to be #41 at anything in my life. On my first baseball team, I was #41 as a tribute to Darrell Evans, but that was a long time ago. Ahhh...
I sat at the dealership all morning, being ignored by those motherless fucks. Sometime this afternoon my fleet manager called and said he was working on getting me a truck. A little after 2pm, he and a few other folks made it happen. My truck is now black, as opposed to red. It has a couple names on the doors, neither of which belongs to me. It has a small crack in the windshield. It has a bunch of switches and gauges that were changed slightly from the older model of T-600, just to annoy me. And it's all mine. Beauty.
It took the bulk of the afternoon to get everything moved over. It's astonishing just how much shit one can accumulate in a year and a half on the road. And I don't even carry much on the truck, compared to most people I meet. Anyhow, it's all moved. Hopefully they're not switching me into a new truck any time soon. This one only has 250,000 miles on it. Give the new ones to people who need the ego boost. I'm fine right here. (Moving sucks!)
The paperwork is done. I'm on the board. And Laredo, at some point in the next day or so, will be in my rearview mirror.
When I talked to my fleet manager, it sounded like I would need to take that old truck back to the dealer and drop it off today, then hitch a ride back here with someone. When I did the check out/check in with the CTL mechanics though, they said they would take it back tomorrow. Beauty. It's probably best that I not go back to that place, now that I have no vested interest in being polite to them. I have a bit of a smart mouth sometimes, or so I'm told. Instead, I'm going to chow on some more Mexican food, confident that my (new to me) truck will make it back here without stalling.
I don't know who you are, Veronica and Juan, but thank you from the bottom of my heart. Whatever caused you to quit your jobs, I hope it wasn't too bad. You just made my day.
Monday, February 11, 2008
2/11/08
A new haiku for you:
At the shop all day
Closing time, truck is ready
Fuck me, it's still broke
Yeah, that's about how my day went. I headed over to the shop and sat there all damn day. The guy gave me my keys as they were locking up for the night. He said I was good to go. And my truck died twice during the half-mile drive to the terminal. The best advice road service can give me is to head back over there in the morning and take those jagoffs for a test drive with me. How long have I been in Laredo now, anyway?
They told me this morning that I had "busted fuel lines." Yeah, I may not know a lot about trucks, but I didn't fall off the banana boat either. If this thing has busted fuel lines, the dipshit with the blowtorch busted them after I gave them my truck. Whatever it is, fuel lines or otherwise, they still haven't fixed it. I should have just stayed at the fucking motel.
At the shop all day
Closing time, truck is ready
Fuck me, it's still broke
Yeah, that's about how my day went. I headed over to the shop and sat there all damn day. The guy gave me my keys as they were locking up for the night. He said I was good to go. And my truck died twice during the half-mile drive to the terminal. The best advice road service can give me is to head back over there in the morning and take those jagoffs for a test drive with me. How long have I been in Laredo now, anyway?
They told me this morning that I had "busted fuel lines." Yeah, I may not know a lot about trucks, but I didn't fall off the banana boat either. If this thing has busted fuel lines, the dipshit with the blowtorch busted them after I gave them my truck. Whatever it is, fuel lines or otherwise, they still haven't fixed it. I should have just stayed at the fucking motel.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
2/10/08
If it weren't for the fact that I am not making any money, this wouldn't be so bad. I had quite a few beers left after last night's binge, so I had a kick start in getting rid of my hangover this morning. Hair of the dog and whatnot. Then it was a long lazy day of polishing off the beverages, eating like a pig, and watching HBO.
I got a call from my fleet manager, waking me up this morning. I had a pounding headache and a sore throat at the time, so I'm sure I sounded thrilled to receive the call. Anyhow, he's doing what he can on his end to get me out of this predicament. Hopefully I will get my truck back (and functional) tomorrow, but if not we'll try to find another way of getting me to Joplin. Apparently one possibility would be to hitch a ride with another driver and then haul a load back down here to retrieve my personal effects. That sounds like a pain in the ass to me, so I'm hoping we don't have to go that route. Another possibility would be that someone quits and leaves a truck available in Laredo, but again I would prefer just to get my truck back and drive it to Missouri.
The Red Wings were on NBC today, so that was pretty cool. That last goal that got waved off was a complete hosejob though. It should have been 3-3, but the refs gave the game to Anaheim. It was a pretty exciting finish anyway.
Oh well, I guess I'll try to get a little sleep tonight. I guess there's a possibility I'm driving away tomorrow, so I might as well be ready.
I got a call from my fleet manager, waking me up this morning. I had a pounding headache and a sore throat at the time, so I'm sure I sounded thrilled to receive the call. Anyhow, he's doing what he can on his end to get me out of this predicament. Hopefully I will get my truck back (and functional) tomorrow, but if not we'll try to find another way of getting me to Joplin. Apparently one possibility would be to hitch a ride with another driver and then haul a load back down here to retrieve my personal effects. That sounds like a pain in the ass to me, so I'm hoping we don't have to go that route. Another possibility would be that someone quits and leaves a truck available in Laredo, but again I would prefer just to get my truck back and drive it to Missouri.
The Red Wings were on NBC today, so that was pretty cool. That last goal that got waved off was a complete hosejob though. It should have been 3-3, but the refs gave the game to Anaheim. It was a pretty exciting finish anyway.
Oh well, I guess I'll try to get a little sleep tonight. I guess there's a possibility I'm driving away tomorrow, so I might as well be ready.
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