[Act 1, Scene 1 - 8am - Maxton, North Carolina]
Sound Effect: Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Narrator: Oh hell, better get out of bed and start up the truck for a little while. The battery rundown protection thing is beeping at me. Okay then, we'll just turn the key and... no. And thus begins another day in dreary and rainy North Carolina...
Since this dead battery thing happened to me roughly six months ago, I've erred on the side of caution when it comes to leaving the truck running. If I'll be sleeping longer than a few hours and the weather is a little cold, the truck stays on. This has led to a few nights when the truck was idling and it may not absolutely have had to idle. Then when you add in the slower business through December and January and the rather Icelandic winter that we've had in this country (courtesy of global warming, no doubt), all of the idling has been pretty bad for my MPG. So I've been a little more cavalier about leaving the truck off lately. I've been turning it on for a while before I go to bed and then shutting it off for the night. No problems starting it in the morning. Until today. I'm not sure what was the cause, since I don't have an inverter or refrigerator or anything connected to the truck. The batteries are probably getting a little on the older side but we'll just have to see what happens from this point forward.
I turned on my trusted Sony Ericsson special edition Godfather model communication device and made a call to our road service department. No time on hold? Weird. The guy on the phone said that he would get someone out to help me. Two minutes later I received a message telling me who was coming. Five minutes later the service truck showed up. Five minutes later my truck was running. Not bad.
The service truck guy asked if I was picking up at Campbell's Soup. In doing so, he solved a mystery that had been rattling around my brain for a while. "I know y'all got dropped trailers o'er there," said he. This job brings new towns and new sights almost every day, but those towns and sights all run together after a while. It gets difficult to distinguish between real memories and false interpolations. I had some vague recollection of Maxton, North Carolina but I couldn't remember why. Campbell's. That's right. I have been to Maxton before. After being reminded of the prominent local business and then reading that old post, I can actually picture the security guard's face as he wished me a safe trip and told me that his best friend was from Bedford, Pennsylvania before I closed my door and drove away. He was an older black guy with a five o'clock shadow and a pleasant twinkle in his eye. I remember the nice sunny day and the kids motioning for me to blast the air horn as I drove by. Ahhh... a temporary respite from the miserable and depressing scene that was this morning.
I was still #1 on the board after getting my truck started today, with no assigned load. Even though I was convinced by this point that I had been sent to Maxton to prepare for a load out of Campbell's, there was no official indication that this would be the case. There was a grocery store next door though. Did somebody say, "Sourdough hoagie?" You betcha. I'm a sandwich crafting fool. But I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Oy.
After a lengthy nap to relieve the misery that tends to follow such gluttony, I got a satellite message. "DROP TRL AT CAMPBELLS IN MAXTON, NC PROFILE INFO TO FOLLOW" Then the directions to the Campbell's plant. Nothing further? Nope. Okay then. I drove the two miles to the soup factory and dropped off my empty, then parked at the little gas station across the street.
Sound Effect: Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Narrator: Oh hell, better get out of bed and start up the truck for a little while. The battery rundown protection thing is beeping at me. Okay then, we'll just turn the key and... no. And thus begins another day in dreary and rainy North Carolina...
Since this dead battery thing happened to me roughly six months ago, I've erred on the side of caution when it comes to leaving the truck running. If I'll be sleeping longer than a few hours and the weather is a little cold, the truck stays on. This has led to a few nights when the truck was idling and it may not absolutely have had to idle. Then when you add in the slower business through December and January and the rather Icelandic winter that we've had in this country (courtesy of global warming, no doubt), all of the idling has been pretty bad for my MPG. So I've been a little more cavalier about leaving the truck off lately. I've been turning it on for a while before I go to bed and then shutting it off for the night. No problems starting it in the morning. Until today. I'm not sure what was the cause, since I don't have an inverter or refrigerator or anything connected to the truck. The batteries are probably getting a little on the older side but we'll just have to see what happens from this point forward.
I turned on my trusted Sony Ericsson special edition Godfather model communication device and made a call to our road service department. No time on hold? Weird. The guy on the phone said that he would get someone out to help me. Two minutes later I received a message telling me who was coming. Five minutes later the service truck showed up. Five minutes later my truck was running. Not bad.
The service truck guy asked if I was picking up at Campbell's Soup. In doing so, he solved a mystery that had been rattling around my brain for a while. "I know y'all got dropped trailers o'er there," said he. This job brings new towns and new sights almost every day, but those towns and sights all run together after a while. It gets difficult to distinguish between real memories and false interpolations. I had some vague recollection of Maxton, North Carolina but I couldn't remember why. Campbell's. That's right. I have been to Maxton before. After being reminded of the prominent local business and then reading that old post, I can actually picture the security guard's face as he wished me a safe trip and told me that his best friend was from Bedford, Pennsylvania before I closed my door and drove away. He was an older black guy with a five o'clock shadow and a pleasant twinkle in his eye. I remember the nice sunny day and the kids motioning for me to blast the air horn as I drove by. Ahhh... a temporary respite from the miserable and depressing scene that was this morning.
I was still #1 on the board after getting my truck started today, with no assigned load. Even though I was convinced by this point that I had been sent to Maxton to prepare for a load out of Campbell's, there was no official indication that this would be the case. There was a grocery store next door though. Did somebody say, "Sourdough hoagie?" You betcha. I'm a sandwich crafting fool. But I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Oy.
After a lengthy nap to relieve the misery that tends to follow such gluttony, I got a satellite message. "DROP TRL AT CAMPBELLS IN MAXTON, NC PROFILE INFO TO FOLLOW" Then the directions to the Campbell's plant. Nothing further? Nope. Okay then. I drove the two miles to the soup factory and dropped off my empty, then parked at the little gas station across the street.
What the hell? No cellular service, no internet service? I only moved two freaking miles. I had great service behind the restaurant. That doesn't make any sense. I had the back half of a fifty cent parlay riding on a rugby match between Scotland and Ireland today, and I wanted to catch the ending, so internet access was going to be needed. Guess it's time to go back to Hardee's. Back at the dirt lot, my connection was once again fast and steady. Ireland won the game and I won my forty-four cents. Beauty.
And then the waiting resumed...
And the end of the pay week approached...
And the waiting continued...
Yeah. It's 10:45pm now (1am ends the pay week) in my neck of the woods. I'm still #1 on the board, I have no trailer, and I'm not entirely sure what's going on. It looks like my week will wrap up short of $1,000 again. If anybody knows this guy, tell him to call ConWay Truckload and request me personally. I'll haul that wood for him. At a real reasonable price too.
And then the waiting resumed...
And the end of the pay week approached...
And the waiting continued...
Yeah. It's 10:45pm now (1am ends the pay week) in my neck of the woods. I'm still #1 on the board, I have no trailer, and I'm not entirely sure what's going on. It looks like my week will wrap up short of $1,000 again. If anybody knows this guy, tell him to call ConWay Truckload and request me personally. I'll haul that wood for him. At a real reasonable price too.
You have a lot more patience than I ever had. I would have been sending a message asking if anyone forgot to send me the rest of my assignment. Nicely of course, but reminding the wonderful weekend crew that I was waiting. Not that they ever screwed up or anything........lol.
ReplyDeleteMy fleet manager was there when I dropped off my trailer. I called in to let them know that I made the drop and keep my spot at the top of the board. There was no rest of my assignment, as far as he knew.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with daytripper. I would have been on the QC saying Helloooooo. That's all I would type in. They loved me.{not}
ReplyDeleteIf you're driving a T600 do what I did... install a redlight bulb in the lower night light. Whenever I run the bunk heater I turn the light on which, if the voltage drops, will sound the alarm letting me know it's time to crank the Cat.
ReplyDeleteThe beeping started after like two hours the other day. On the day that it died, the beeping woke me and the engine wouldn't crank when I hopped in the seat five seconds later.
ReplyDeleteThis stuff happened on my old truck and a new set of batteries did the trick. I'm just not too keen on giving up another load for shop time, so I'll watch for an opening over the next week or so.