I listened to a lot of election coverage today. Since these two yahoos are going so far to outpander one another, I'm looking forward to the handouts that they promise to fat, 30-something, employed and insured, middle class white dudes. So far we don't get anything other than a promised tax increase, but there's still time. I'm thinking taxpayer-funded cheeseburgers and baseball tickets would be perfect.
The weather was getting pretty lousy by the time I stopped last night, so I wasn't sure what to expect this morning. It was a pretty mixed bag by the time I woke up. Some spots were clean and wet, while others were really snowy and sloppy. There were a couple of minor accidents on the shoulders and one big one that stopped traffic for a little while. Once I hit the Ohio Turnpike, the road was perfectly maintained as usual.
I was rolling along, dreaming of the ways that my government could babysit me, when I got a beep on my Qualcomm. It's a pretty good sign when my first reaction to hearing a beep is no longer, "What the hell do they want?" When I heard the beep I thought, "Sweet, another pre-plan." And that's exactly what it was. Picking up in Davenport and going to Taylor, Michigan. My hours will be taxed to the limit tomorrow, but I'll spend the night at home when it's all done so I can't be too upset about that.
My instructions for the load I drop off in the morning say that, if it picks up early, it must be delivered within 30 hours. That means 3:30am. My instructions also say that it can't be delivered earlier than scheduled. My scheduled dispatch is for 9am. My instructions say that I am to break the seal, leave the paperwork in the trailer, and drop it in a given door. My instructions also say that I am to leave the trailer sealed and drop the paperwork in the mailbox. Yeah, I know.
Given that it's delivering on a Sunday morning, it's a few hours away from here, my next pickup is for 8am in the same town, and I need to get to Taylor on the same fourteen hour clock, I'm going to aim for a 7am arrival in Davenport. I don't know what's up with that 30 hour stuff, but I sincerely doubt that this place is doing anything at 3:30am on a Sunday. I'll be well ahead of my dispatched arrival time, so I guess I'll be fine.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
2/29/08
My delivery appointment was 8am this morning, so I set my alarm for 7:50am. Much to my surprise, nobody woke me up before then. Beauty. I backed into a dock and they had me done in fairly short order. Then I found a strip of asphalt along an undeveloped construction site and took a nap.
Around an hour later I got my next assignment. I was to head down to Millville to make the first of two pickups. Then I would head north to Cranbury for the second, and on to Missouri for a Monday delivery. A 2,800 mile week (plus another handful of northeast miles) behind a 3,500 mile week would be some pretty solid work, so I was happy with the assignment.
The plan summary, which I received around 10:45am, said that the pickup in Millville was scheduled for 9:30am and the Cranbury stop was 2pm. I was dispatched to arrive in Millville at 11:42am (earliest legal arrival time). Given the convoluted route that I had to take, this allowed just enough time for me to get there. I rolled into the customer's location at 11:39am. Then they told me that my appointment was for 3pm. Second time at this shipper, second time this sequence of events has occurred. So I went to their designated waiting area at the end of the street and went back to bed.
When my door was ready, the shipper called my cell phone and woke me up. It was right at 3pm. Head for door number 2. You know, to quote The Briggs - "I wouldn't be so paranoid, if the world wasn't out to get me." Here's what the dock area looked like, for every door other than door 2. Lots of room to work for everyone else.
Around an hour later I got my next assignment. I was to head down to Millville to make the first of two pickups. Then I would head north to Cranbury for the second, and on to Missouri for a Monday delivery. A 2,800 mile week (plus another handful of northeast miles) behind a 3,500 mile week would be some pretty solid work, so I was happy with the assignment.
The plan summary, which I received around 10:45am, said that the pickup in Millville was scheduled for 9:30am and the Cranbury stop was 2pm. I was dispatched to arrive in Millville at 11:42am (earliest legal arrival time). Given the convoluted route that I had to take, this allowed just enough time for me to get there. I rolled into the customer's location at 11:39am. Then they told me that my appointment was for 3pm. Second time at this shipper, second time this sequence of events has occurred. So I went to their designated waiting area at the end of the street and went back to bed.
When my door was ready, the shipper called my cell phone and woke me up. It was right at 3pm. Head for door number 2. You know, to quote The Briggs - "I wouldn't be so paranoid, if the world wasn't out to get me." Here's what the dock area looked like, for every door other than door 2. Lots of room to work for everyone else.
No big deal, right? Just swing around Swiftie there, straighten it up, and we're all good. Well, here's what the dock area looked like, directly in front of door number 2. The edge of the lot curved toward the building, and they apparently thought that would be a good spot for the excess junk that they had on hand. I guess it isn't clear from the perspective, but that shit on the ground was about twenty-five feet in front of me. No room to adjust anything, so it took absolute perfection to get aligned with the dock while not hitting the green railing things on my right or the truck on my left.
I swear it's a conspiracy.
Anyhow, here's where things took a turn. The dock guy came out and said that CTL was calling to reschedule, since I couldn't make my pickup... as I sat presently at the dock. I told him the little bit of information that I knew about the schedule. He said that the load was originally scheduled for the morning, then switched to 3pm when CTL decided that I would go to Cranbury first. Dunno, dude. They didn't dispatch me to Cranbury first, so it wasn't my issue. I'm a big dumb truck driver, so I just do what I'm told. He said he was going to call them back. About five minutes later, they started loading my trailer.
A while later, the same guy came back out and said that CTL had called back and told them to empty my trailer, since the Cranbury location would be closed until Monday by the time I got there. He was annoyed, for obvious reasons. He mentioned that the stuff was going to the same DC in Missouri, so he didn't see why he had to take the freight off of my trailer. My guess was that CTL didn't want me sitting around all weekend with a half-loaded trailer, waiting for the rest of my load.
So I called CTL to see what was what. My fleet manager was gone, so I got someone else on the phone. She had no idea what I was talking about. Par for the course, I guess. I gave her my hypothesis that, by emptying my trailer, CTL was indicating that someone else would be assigned to the load on Monday. There are people who decide these things, and then there are people who speak to the drivers... well apparently those people don't speak to each other. After a few minutes on hold, I was unassigned from the load and given a new assignment. Every now and then I manage to get one right.
The next load was set to leave Jersey City tomorrow at 4am and head to Davenport, Iowa for Sunday. The upshot is that my 2,800 mile week became a 2,740 mile week (also minus the pay for one extra stop), but I'll be empty a day sooner. I have no beef with that. The dispatch included a trailer number for me to retrieve after I dropped my empty, so I headed straight to the shipper. The instructions said not to pick up early, but usually they only give me a trailer number if the load is ready. I had been to that place once before and it totally sucked, so I was hoping to get in and out after the usual business hours. When I got to the shipper, the lady said that my load would be ready at 9pm. Still better than 4am, I suppose. So I dropped my empty and parked for a little while, then went back for my loaded trailer.
Once I got back on the road, the 14 hour rule was catching up pretty quickly. I spent half the day sleeping, but the FMCSA has different ideas about how to define tired driving. So I had to call it a night. I'll have to put in a long day starting tomorrow morning, take a ten hour break, and finish the run in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Looks like the weather will be pretty messy for the next day or so. Oh well.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
2/28/08
After spending last night at home, I found myself inclined to lounge around all morning. I got some laundry done, but I wasn't in any real hurry to get on the road. I actually think this worked to my advantage, as I wound up rolling into New Jersey in the middle of the night. The directions from my employer would have been fine, if only I were coming from New England. To use them as I approached from the west, I would have had to go about thirty miles out of the way. So I came up with my own route. It was fine in the end, but nothing in New Jersey is ever simple. I spotted a couple of turns at the last second, forcing me to react quickly, and it was helpful not to have any traffic around. I guess that wasting a morning can sometimes have its advantages.
I found the nice big place that I had identified on Google Earth. Yeah, that wasn't my customer. Bummer. So I headed a little further up the street. I didn't see my customer, but I saw (from an address on a mailbox) that I had passed them. Then it was time for a New Jersey turnaround. Up half a mile, right turn, up two miles, right/U turn, back down two miles, left turn... I rolled down the street around five miles per hour, hoping that nobody would approach me from behind. I got lucky there, and managed to spot the customer's name atop a building sitting back a few hundred yards from the road. The driveway looked pretty dicey, but I gave it a shot. It opened up nicely, everything worked out fine, and I had plenty of room to park. So here I am.
After I get unloaded in the morning, I'll have decent hours available again. The next few days I'll be picking up hours from long days that I worked last week. The check that will hit my bank account in the morning is once again missing my $35 from UPS. Now it's a crusade. The money won't make or break me, but I've been asking for it for over a month now. Since this is the first time I've had missing pay, and I've been told more than once that the paperwork was submitted, I guess I might have to ask some friends to pay a visit to CTL. Aside from that, it's a nice paycheck from my 3,500 mile week last week. No mystery detention pay though. (I was starting to like that.)
I found the nice big place that I had identified on Google Earth. Yeah, that wasn't my customer. Bummer. So I headed a little further up the street. I didn't see my customer, but I saw (from an address on a mailbox) that I had passed them. Then it was time for a New Jersey turnaround. Up half a mile, right turn, up two miles, right/U turn, back down two miles, left turn... I rolled down the street around five miles per hour, hoping that nobody would approach me from behind. I got lucky there, and managed to spot the customer's name atop a building sitting back a few hundred yards from the road. The driveway looked pretty dicey, but I gave it a shot. It opened up nicely, everything worked out fine, and I had plenty of room to park. So here I am.
After I get unloaded in the morning, I'll have decent hours available again. The next few days I'll be picking up hours from long days that I worked last week. The check that will hit my bank account in the morning is once again missing my $35 from UPS. Now it's a crusade. The money won't make or break me, but I've been asking for it for over a month now. Since this is the first time I've had missing pay, and I've been told more than once that the paperwork was submitted, I guess I might have to ask some friends to pay a visit to CTL. Aside from that, it's a nice paycheck from my 3,500 mile week last week. No mystery detention pay though. (I was starting to like that.)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
2/27/08
At some point in time this morning, as I cursed the FMCSA for their idiotic rules, I was feeling incredibly tired. I made a call to CTL and asked if there was a delivery window for my load, so that I could take a nap. The nice young lady gave me an extra few hours so I got some sleep. Upon waking, I started to drive out of the rest area at which I had slept. I had a very light load, so I started in gear 3. Then shifted to gear 4. Then, for gear 5... nope. As the gears ground against the shifter, it sure as hell didn't sound like I had missed the gear. It sounded like the gears were spinning a thousand miles an hour. So I pulled over on the side of the ramp. Once I got stopped, I started fooling around with the shifter and the clutch, trying to figure out what was up. Yep. The little shifter switch thing wasn't flipping me to the high range. Usually I can hear a click if I flip it while I'm in neutral. This morning, it was doing nothing. So, as I was trying to shift into 5th gear, the truck was trying to go into 1st gear. Hence the rapid spinning and grinding. It was ten degrees outside, so I assumed that it was frozen. (That damn bunk heater... guess I should have idled the truck while I slept this time.) After I ran the truck and shifted in and out of gear for a few minutes, everything started working fine again. Beauty.
I got to the customer in Midland and, of course, my directions had taken me to the wrong place. I was at Gate 17 of the main plant and I needed to be at an entirely different facility. The girl gave me a map that bore little resemblance to reality and directions that were even worse. So, after cruising through farmland for a while, I managed to find my way to the right building. Another day, another crazy dock. This one might actually have been useful at some point in history, but today the area in front of the dock looked like a storage lot. Power equipment, barrels, pallets, just basically shit everywhere. So I had to pull off some more insane maneuvering. In keeping with a common theme of late, I got it done without incident.
They pulled the one piece of equipment off of my truck and sent me on my way. I had seen a little truck stop along US-10 closer to Bay City, so I headed in that direction. At #4 on the board and running low on hours, I didn't expect much today. Just as I got off the highway, my next assignment came through. I was to go to the first building that I visited this morning (Gate 17) and pick up a loaded trailer headed for New Jersey. Yep, backtracking about fifteen miles for free, gotta love it. I'll get another eighteen bucks in northeast pay, another 718 miles, and another decent couple days of work. Not too shabby.
With two and a half hours left on my 70, and finding myself two and a half hours from home, I guess you can figure out where I headed from there. I'll have about a ten hour drive from here, ahead of my Friday 8am appointment. I'll most likely just drive to the customer tomorrow night and see what kind of parking I can find. I checked out Google Earth and it looks like I'm headed to a pretty big place, so I think I'll be okay.
This run will get me up to 1,621 miles for the week, with Friday and Saturday still to come. I'm not exactly off to a riproaring start this week, but they're using every single hour I have available, so I guess that's all I can ask for. I pick up some pretty good hours for a few days starting tomorrow, so I'll be ready for a busy weekend if the freight is available. Even a fairly light Friday-Monday run should give me a decent week, so I'm not feeling too bad about where I stand right now.
I got to the customer in Midland and, of course, my directions had taken me to the wrong place. I was at Gate 17 of the main plant and I needed to be at an entirely different facility. The girl gave me a map that bore little resemblance to reality and directions that were even worse. So, after cruising through farmland for a while, I managed to find my way to the right building. Another day, another crazy dock. This one might actually have been useful at some point in history, but today the area in front of the dock looked like a storage lot. Power equipment, barrels, pallets, just basically shit everywhere. So I had to pull off some more insane maneuvering. In keeping with a common theme of late, I got it done without incident.
They pulled the one piece of equipment off of my truck and sent me on my way. I had seen a little truck stop along US-10 closer to Bay City, so I headed in that direction. At #4 on the board and running low on hours, I didn't expect much today. Just as I got off the highway, my next assignment came through. I was to go to the first building that I visited this morning (Gate 17) and pick up a loaded trailer headed for New Jersey. Yep, backtracking about fifteen miles for free, gotta love it. I'll get another eighteen bucks in northeast pay, another 718 miles, and another decent couple days of work. Not too shabby.
With two and a half hours left on my 70, and finding myself two and a half hours from home, I guess you can figure out where I headed from there. I'll have about a ten hour drive from here, ahead of my Friday 8am appointment. I'll most likely just drive to the customer tomorrow night and see what kind of parking I can find. I checked out Google Earth and it looks like I'm headed to a pretty big place, so I think I'll be okay.
This run will get me up to 1,621 miles for the week, with Friday and Saturday still to come. I'm not exactly off to a riproaring start this week, but they're using every single hour I have available, so I guess that's all I can ask for. I pick up some pretty good hours for a few days starting tomorrow, so I'll be ready for a busy weekend if the freight is available. Even a fairly light Friday-Monday run should give me a decent week, so I'm not feeling too bad about where I stand right now.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
2/25/08
A couple summers ago, while I was with my trainer, I pulled about the weirdest load I have ever had. We picked up a loaded trailer in Illinois and ran it a few hundred miles down to a Schnuck's warehouse in Missouri. When I opened the doors, I saw the following: One case of tomato paste. A cardboard box with a pineapple, about a dozen tomatoes, some celery, and some oranges. Two jugs of vegetable oil. That's it. It wasn't packaged, secured, or anything. It was just someone's grocery list bouncing around the back of a 53' trailer. Maybe 50 pounds total.
Today's load, if only for the distance traveled and the location of the drop, may have beaten that one. I called the hotel again this morning and got in touch with the engineering manager. He gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to do when I got there. I got off the freeway, made a couple of wicked tight right turns, and pulled up in front of the hotel. I stopped and put my flashers on, so I could assess the situation. A guy from the construction company receiving the supplies came out and told me that I needed to back up a brick ramp toward the hotel lobby. I looked around for a minute. Heavy traffic, blindside, 24,000 pound posted weight limit on the ramp, overhanging trees, parked cars on both sides of the road. My general message to the guy was, "Go fuck yourself." Have no fear though. I used more friendly terminology. So there I stayed, blocking the right lane of the street. The crew had to wheel some dollies down and push them up the ramp. That probably sucked on the brick surface, but what was I going to do?
What did my trailer hold today? A bunch of pre-fab cabinets like the Sauder ones you buy at Wal Mart, with the assorted panels and hardware to connect them or whatever. They seriously could have taken a U-Haul down to Home Depot and picked up this stuff. It was a crew of hispanic construction workers. I'm pretty sure they know where Home Depot is. Instead it was shipped in a 53' trailer, taking up only about 10' of the length, from Kansas City to Providence. I have no idea what CTL charged these guys, but look at this way: Driver wages were somewhere on the order of $530. Fuel (at 7mpg and $3.40) would be somewhere on the order of $680, and that's a very conservative scenario. It was likely more costly than that. So, we're talking at least $1,200 just to break even, plus whatever profit margin they build in. For a couple thousand pounds of particle board that you can buy anywhere. Bizarre.
Getting empty in Providence left me with nowhere nearby to park. There's one truck stop in Rhode Island, about twenty-five miles south on I-95. I've picked up loads in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, but the majority of my northeast loads leave from New Jersey. If I had to drive a half hour to find parking, I figured I might as well guess I would be heading south to get my next load. Hopefully I wouldn't have to backtrack up I-95 for free. A half hour later, I was sent to pickup in Connecticut. Beauty.
The stop location, once again, had no directions. I know for a fact that this was a Menlo customer, as some of the instructions for the load specifically mentioned Menlo. I came up with a pretty decent route. It was decent at least until the last ten miles. That was crazy. As usual though, as long as I don't hit anything I can just be like Rain Man and say, "I'm an excellent driver."
(If we treat today's blog entry as my own little variety show, this next segment will be called 'Joey being Joey.')
I turned onto the street where the shipper was located. About a half mile down, the street veered to the right. I was not aware of this. There was no sign, so I continued straight. I wound up in the parking lot of a medical center, with no room for a truck to maneuver. I saw what looked like an open area around to the left of the building, but I couldn't make a left. There appeared to be a driveway going down the right side of the building and around the back, so I thought I could swing back around. I followed it to the dead end, which I hadn't seen from the front. Shit. Slowly but steadily, I backed my way out to the main entrance to the parking lot. I got my trailer angled far enough right to allow me to cut back to the left and drive forward toward the open area that I had seen before. Back there, I was able to turn around and head back out to the street.
So, following the veer that I missed the first time, I started looking for my customer's address. As I passed their driveway, I saw it. Shit. The road ahead looked ludicrous, so I stopped and looked around. Backing up looked to be the least terrible option, so backward I went. Cars kept approaching my bumper before it occurred to them that they would need to go around, so I had to keep stopping. Two feet at a time, I got far enough back to make the right turn into the driveway. "Shipping and receiving in rear of building." As I drove along the skinny little driveway, I wasn't liking what I saw. Yeah, another insane backing job was waiting for me. What the hell is up lately? I got it in there, they loaded one piece of equipment (about six feet long), and I got back out safely. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to get back on the interstate in my life.
For 99% of what goes on out here, I think experience is pretty overrated. Our greatest skill really seems to be the ability to stay awake. In all honesty though, I don't think I could have handled today's challenges when I first started doing this job. The downtown Providence part was tough, but it was fairly similar to downtown Detroit (where I learned to drive a truck). The customer in Connecticut was another story altogether. It required near perfection to get in their lot going forward, let alone the backing. Add that to the scene that I faced at the end of the medical center's driveway, and I have to look back and wonder how I managed to get by without hitting anything. I'm not much good at my job in general, but I guess I'm pretty good at maneuvering my truck. So I have that going for me... which is nice.
(Moving along to the 'Nanny State' portion of the program...)
This afternoon, something crazy happened. I was driving along at 4:59pm, feeling pretty good. Then the clock struck five and apparently I was suddenly too tired to drive. Fucking feds. So, I get to wait for tomorrow. Any time after 3am, I'll magically be rested again. Once I leave, I'll be tired again in four hours. Then at midnight I'll be ready to roll again. I deliver in Midland, Michigan at 8am Wednesday. This basically means that I'll have to do the bulk of my driving during the midnight-8am stretch. But hey, I'll get to wave to home on the way up. Seems to me that being able to drive home tomorrow and take the afternoon and night off would leave me more rested for Wednesday, but what do I know?
Today's load, if only for the distance traveled and the location of the drop, may have beaten that one. I called the hotel again this morning and got in touch with the engineering manager. He gave me a pretty good idea of what I needed to do when I got there. I got off the freeway, made a couple of wicked tight right turns, and pulled up in front of the hotel. I stopped and put my flashers on, so I could assess the situation. A guy from the construction company receiving the supplies came out and told me that I needed to back up a brick ramp toward the hotel lobby. I looked around for a minute. Heavy traffic, blindside, 24,000 pound posted weight limit on the ramp, overhanging trees, parked cars on both sides of the road. My general message to the guy was, "Go fuck yourself." Have no fear though. I used more friendly terminology. So there I stayed, blocking the right lane of the street. The crew had to wheel some dollies down and push them up the ramp. That probably sucked on the brick surface, but what was I going to do?
What did my trailer hold today? A bunch of pre-fab cabinets like the Sauder ones you buy at Wal Mart, with the assorted panels and hardware to connect them or whatever. They seriously could have taken a U-Haul down to Home Depot and picked up this stuff. It was a crew of hispanic construction workers. I'm pretty sure they know where Home Depot is. Instead it was shipped in a 53' trailer, taking up only about 10' of the length, from Kansas City to Providence. I have no idea what CTL charged these guys, but look at this way: Driver wages were somewhere on the order of $530. Fuel (at 7mpg and $3.40) would be somewhere on the order of $680, and that's a very conservative scenario. It was likely more costly than that. So, we're talking at least $1,200 just to break even, plus whatever profit margin they build in. For a couple thousand pounds of particle board that you can buy anywhere. Bizarre.
Getting empty in Providence left me with nowhere nearby to park. There's one truck stop in Rhode Island, about twenty-five miles south on I-95. I've picked up loads in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, but the majority of my northeast loads leave from New Jersey. If I had to drive a half hour to find parking, I figured I might as well guess I would be heading south to get my next load. Hopefully I wouldn't have to backtrack up I-95 for free. A half hour later, I was sent to pickup in Connecticut. Beauty.
The stop location, once again, had no directions. I know for a fact that this was a Menlo customer, as some of the instructions for the load specifically mentioned Menlo. I came up with a pretty decent route. It was decent at least until the last ten miles. That was crazy. As usual though, as long as I don't hit anything I can just be like Rain Man and say, "I'm an excellent driver."
(If we treat today's blog entry as my own little variety show, this next segment will be called 'Joey being Joey.')
I turned onto the street where the shipper was located. About a half mile down, the street veered to the right. I was not aware of this. There was no sign, so I continued straight. I wound up in the parking lot of a medical center, with no room for a truck to maneuver. I saw what looked like an open area around to the left of the building, but I couldn't make a left. There appeared to be a driveway going down the right side of the building and around the back, so I thought I could swing back around. I followed it to the dead end, which I hadn't seen from the front. Shit. Slowly but steadily, I backed my way out to the main entrance to the parking lot. I got my trailer angled far enough right to allow me to cut back to the left and drive forward toward the open area that I had seen before. Back there, I was able to turn around and head back out to the street.
So, following the veer that I missed the first time, I started looking for my customer's address. As I passed their driveway, I saw it. Shit. The road ahead looked ludicrous, so I stopped and looked around. Backing up looked to be the least terrible option, so backward I went. Cars kept approaching my bumper before it occurred to them that they would need to go around, so I had to keep stopping. Two feet at a time, I got far enough back to make the right turn into the driveway. "Shipping and receiving in rear of building." As I drove along the skinny little driveway, I wasn't liking what I saw. Yeah, another insane backing job was waiting for me. What the hell is up lately? I got it in there, they loaded one piece of equipment (about six feet long), and I got back out safely. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to get back on the interstate in my life.
For 99% of what goes on out here, I think experience is pretty overrated. Our greatest skill really seems to be the ability to stay awake. In all honesty though, I don't think I could have handled today's challenges when I first started doing this job. The downtown Providence part was tough, but it was fairly similar to downtown Detroit (where I learned to drive a truck). The customer in Connecticut was another story altogether. It required near perfection to get in their lot going forward, let alone the backing. Add that to the scene that I faced at the end of the medical center's driveway, and I have to look back and wonder how I managed to get by without hitting anything. I'm not much good at my job in general, but I guess I'm pretty good at maneuvering my truck. So I have that going for me... which is nice.
(Moving along to the 'Nanny State' portion of the program...)
This afternoon, something crazy happened. I was driving along at 4:59pm, feeling pretty good. Then the clock struck five and apparently I was suddenly too tired to drive. Fucking feds. So, I get to wait for tomorrow. Any time after 3am, I'll magically be rested again. Once I leave, I'll be tired again in four hours. Then at midnight I'll be ready to roll again. I deliver in Midland, Michigan at 8am Wednesday. This basically means that I'll have to do the bulk of my driving during the midnight-8am stretch. But hey, I'll get to wave to home on the way up. Seems to me that being able to drive home tomorrow and take the afternoon and night off would leave me more rested for Wednesday, but what do I know?
Sunday, February 24, 2008
2/24/08
That Espar bunk heater is a hell of a gadget. I woke up this morning in my underwear (for your own sake, don't try to picture that) and I would have thought it was eighty degrees outside. When I turned on the truck, it was seventeen degrees. My old truck would have been idling away all night long. I had no idea how awesome those heaters really are. The fact that any company runs trucks without them is bordering on institutional negligence. In the short time that I've had this truck, the bunk heater has saved me at least sixty hours of idling. Do whatever math and use whatever assumptions you want to use. The heater would have to pay for itself pretty quickly.
Another pretty decent day of work today. I wouldn't say that the traffic was light, but it was reasonable. Given the route, I don't think light traffic could ever exist. I usually run over the GWB and up I-95, but today I decided to try I-287. I don't know. People say the loop is easier, but it didn't seem that way to me. I think I prefer just going through the Bronx.
I got into Connecticut tonight, so I'll have around a hundred miles left tomorrow morning. Not too bad as far as that goes. I checked Google Earth and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to enjoy tomorrow morning much. My destination is a Courtyard by Marriott. That much I knew when I picked up the load. What I didn't know was that it's right in the middle of freaking Providence, on a busy street. I called the hotel tonight to see if they had any idea where I need to park in the morning. The dipshit told me I would have to try the Hilton if I needed to park a truck. I'll call back tomorrow and try to get the general manager on the phone.
I won't have a ton of hours available when I get empty tomorrow, but I'll hope at least to get out of New England.
Another pretty decent day of work today. I wouldn't say that the traffic was light, but it was reasonable. Given the route, I don't think light traffic could ever exist. I usually run over the GWB and up I-95, but today I decided to try I-287. I don't know. People say the loop is easier, but it didn't seem that way to me. I think I prefer just going through the Bronx.
I got into Connecticut tonight, so I'll have around a hundred miles left tomorrow morning. Not too bad as far as that goes. I checked Google Earth and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to enjoy tomorrow morning much. My destination is a Courtyard by Marriott. That much I knew when I picked up the load. What I didn't know was that it's right in the middle of freaking Providence, on a busy street. I called the hotel tonight to see if they had any idea where I need to park in the morning. The dipshit told me I would have to try the Hilton if I needed to park a truck. I'll call back tomorrow and try to get the general manager on the phone.
I won't have a ton of hours available when I get empty tomorrow, but I'll hope at least to get out of New England.
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