Saturday, November 15, 2008

11/15/08

Well, that game got pretty interesting, didn't it? Oh well. The lads won. They became bowl eligible. They covered the point spread. Good enough.

Now I'll commence a day and a half of sitting in Lancaster and talking to the voices in my head... or something. If you know any lovely ladies in the Dallas area, I swear I'll be on my best behavior. Send them on over. Otherwise I might have to read a book. That would suck.

So we put an end to another pay week. It's hard to get too disappointed when I didn't leave Michigan until Wednesday, but I'll finish the week at 1,771 miles plus a few bucks in northeast pay for going through Virginia. I should have detention pay coming for the debacle in North Carolina and layover for this slow dispatch, but none of that will be on this next check. When I think of how the week went, I see that I could have been here by last night. That would mean ~$680 for three days of work and the weekend off. I guess that makes it sound a little better than the 1,771 miles would imply. Trying to keep the right perspective or whatever. Next week will hopefully be a good one.

Friday, November 14, 2008

11/14/08

It looks like I've somehow done a lot of driving since I last joined you fine folks. The lazy union thugs proud members of the United Steelworkers worked really hard took their sweet ass time getting me loaded last night. I wound up having a full ten hour break on the books before all was said and done. So I was in a pissy mood, but I drove down the road for a while. And drove... and drove... I was kinda like Forrest Gump when he went for a jog or something. I made my way to our terminal in West Memphis this morning and went to bed.

The overnight traffic was nice and light, although there was some sort of police situation going on in Knoxville on I-640. I heard guys on the radio saying that someone got shot. I just assumed that they were full of shit. Turns out the CB chatter got one right for a change.

After I woke and finished my ten hour break in West Memphis, I started rolling again. My original intent was just to go ahead and drive to Lancaster tonight. I decided to duck off at the Texas Welcome Center in Texarkana instead. I'll be spending the whole weekend in Lancaster, so there's really no need to get there tonight. The only thing I could accomplish would be to try leaving the load there for a local driver and grabbing something else, but they hardly ever let me do that anyway. Spending the night here will give me a chance to drive a few hours tomorrow morning, stop for lunch, and get to Lancaster in time for the football game. Can the University of Navy (gotta love Lou Holtz) extend its one-game winning streak over Our Lady's lads? I wish I knew. I really wish I knew. Last weekend's showing really makes me wonder.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

11/13/08

That... was... brutal. As I suspected, the trip across the Tenn-N.C. line took me over some mountains. Fair enough there. There were some wicked long climbs and my truck was begging for mercy, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Then once I got past Asheville and onto Us-74... fuck me! Up. Down. Hard left. Hard right. Repeat about a thousand times. The nominal speed limit on US-74 varied between 55mph and 60mph. Adding in the frequent climbs, wet roads and steady rain, I would guess that I averaged maybe 35-40mph for that last 30 miles. It's probably a pretty nice ride on a sunny day with a sports car. Not so much this morning with a heavily loaded trailer. Oh well. At least it's not snowing yet.

The directions to my consignee were easy enough to follow. After checking in, I was told to go down to the end of their lot and spin around to back into the docks. People who complain about the CTL obstacle course and say it's unnecessary... you've heard this speech from me before. It was pretty nuts. I had to get as close as I could to stacks of metal racks on one side in order to make the spin without hitting my trailer against my truck on the other side. At one point, when I got out to take a look at things, I was about six inches from the racks and my trailer was about two inches from the cab extender on my truck. Talk about 'no room for error.' I got settled in and they had me unloaded before too long.

I asked the lady in the receiving office if she knew of a place where I could park and wait for my next load. She suggested that I go north on US-19 and stop at the Ingle's grocery store in town. When I got to the store I didn't like the look of the parking lot. It looked like I could get in there but I had no idea how I would get out, so I kept driving. I wound up snaking my way along some Godforsaken river from Deliverance or something before I managed to catch US-441 back south to US-74. Just a couple of hours earlier, US-74 looked like a goat path to me. After my trek along the river, US-74 looked like the Autobahn. I guess it's all about perspective. I remembered seeing a rest area along US-74 on my way to the consignee this morning. I didn't know if trucks were allowed but I was going to find out.

As I turned into the rest area I received my next planned load information. There was room for me to park, which was a relief, so I stopped and took a look. Since I had just spent a half hour moving eastward, I expected to be headed west for my next pickup. Good luck this time though. I was going the right way after all. I had to grab a load in Canton this evening and head to Dallas for Monday morning. Time for a nap. The last stretch on US-74 (after I woke from my nap) didn't seem bad at all when the road was dry and my trailer was empty.

My pickup at the paper mill in Canton has been no fun at all so far. I had to do some extreme maneuvering in order to get parked in the staging area. Then wait... and wait... and wait. I'm presently waiting to be called to a dock. By the time I get loaded, my 14 hour clock will have run out for the day. I will have had something loosely resembling eight hours of down time today though, so I'll be able to extend it out to a 22 hour clock and drive through the night. It's not exactly an ideal schedule but I spent half the day sleeping anyway. Might as well work for a while. This is going to be another 45,000 pound anvil around my neck. Maybe driving when there's less traffic will be a little easier.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

11/12/08

That was a pretty productive first day back on the road, I suppose. I tossed and turned all night and then got rolling shortly after 5am this morning. A quick two-hour drive to Sandusky was just the thing to get me back into the swing of things without getting too tired.

I followed the directions from my Qualcomm and arrived at my consignee. The directions didn't match the address in the stop location info, but that's nothing new. After checking in with a guy inside the building, I was sent a few blocks away to a location that did match the address from my stop location info. That building was empty. There was a real estate sign out on the front lawn. There was police tape blocking the entrance to the office area, reading "Do Not Enter." Super.

After making a phone call to apprise my fleet manager of the situation, I returned to the first building. The same guy assured me that I had been at the right place and that the morning crew simply hadn't arrived yet. When I mentioned the appearance of the place, he said that they had recently purchased the building and that this would explain the signage. The guys in their office confirmed his version of things so I headed back over to the empty warehouse. Then a nice blindside back-in from a skinny side street was a fitting wrap-up for my first run in quite a while. Eventually two people did show up and get me unloaded. On a positive note, I learned that the word 'gaylord' actually means something. I always thought that 'gaylord' was just a name that children call each other. Turns out it's some kind of shipping container or something.

My deadhead to Akron was nice and easy. The guys at the shipper there worked very quickly and sent me on my way. Since I knew that my route was going through West Virginia and Virginia, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Nope. 44,000 pounds. Shit. This afternoon's drive was a mountainous pain in the ass, for lack of a better description. I got down I-77 to I-81 before my 14 hours ran out. Even with the limitation from that rule though, I managed to drive a total of ten hours and 550 miles today. That's pretty decent.

I can't recall whether or not I've gone from Tennessee to North Carolina on I-26 before. It doesn't sound familiar. My guess is that I have a long morning of dragging this bastard through some more mountains ahead of me.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

11/11/08

Yeah, so I guess that's that. Time to roll on down the highway for a while. I woke up this morning and got on the board at #10, then fell back asleep. By the time I was awake for good, I was up to #3. I got my assignment an hour or two after that.

I have to deliver a load in Sandusky, Ohio tomorrow morning. Since it was sitting on the yard I decided just to make today an extra day off and head out early tomorrow. I got up to the yard a little while ago to load up the truck and spend the night.

The dispatcher in Taylor got me another run to back up this short one so hopefully I'll be able to keep moving for a while. It looks like I should have a solid five weeks of driving ahead of me before I'm due back in Michigan for a little weekend vacation with the family.

Did we learn any lessons during this trip home? I guess we just confirmed that I'm a loser. I drove home and then went to Indiana for a football game. My team lost. I went out to the bar to watch the Monday night game. My team lost. I hung out with my brother and watched election results. My team lost. I drove to Boston for another football game. My team lost. Pitiful. Then, when I came up to the yard and tried to fire up my truck, the battery was dead. It does that after sitting in the cold for a week and a half. The poor dispatcher had to head out into the cold and give me a jump with the battery machine gadget thingy.

Oh well, better get some sleep.

Monday, November 10, 2008

11/10/08

I had a hot lunch date today... with a 70-something year old retired minister. Then I had a hot dinner date tonight... with a 28 year old pregnant married chick. Yeah, what can I say? That's how I roll. It was actually good to catch up with both of them though. I hung out with my minister friend for a while last week, but my expectant mom buddy always seems to be busy. I hadn't seen her in quite some time.

So another mini vacation must come to an end. My cash burn rate might rival the auto companies pretty soon if I don't get the hell out of here.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

11/9/08

What is it that I do when I'm not on home time? Drive all damn day? Yowzers. The thirteen hours driving to Boston on Friday was long, but we had the anticipation of a fun weekend ahead. The thirteen hours back home today, with intermittent snow showers, seemed much longer.

I saw the weather report this morning indicating that there was snow and stuff coming off of Lake Erie, so I dropped down through Connecticut and the Bronx and onto I-80. I was hoping to stay below the bad weather. The traffic was light and the GWB was a breeze. I managed to stay dry for most of the trip. A little snow showed up in Pennsylvania and then a little more in Ohio. I don't know if the weather in Upstate New York was better or worse, but I think I played it about right.

One more day of home time and then it's back to the grind.
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