Since I'm in Iowa, where the senators encourage seppuku, I hope I don't step out of line here. I think I'm doing my job correctly and my compensation seems to be fair. I should be okay.
I was able to get into the consignee's lot last night and sleep for a while without being disturbed. That's good, I think. For the second night in a row, I left my truck off. For the second morning in a row, it started up with no battery issues. That's good, I think. The guy inside the building directed me to a dock. It was a little bit of a tight squeeze, but not too bad. After I got settled in, he came out and told me to go to a different dock. I had rolls of paper and they were handled in a different part of the factory. Hey, great deal! I got to navigate the parked cars of the employees as I blindside backed into a dock between a dropped trailer and a fence. Yeah, I know. That's what truck drivers do.
I got on the board at #7 once I was empty. I had some business matters to handle, requiring access to a fax machine, so I headed up to the Flying J. That place involves some pretty tight quarters as well, but at least I was able to find a decent spot on my left into which I could back without too much trouble. After exchanging a couple of faxes, I hung around there through the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. My truck was off and my satellite unit was powered down when my assignment came through. Of course I didn't get the assignment right away. I was checking my board status periodically on the company's web portal, so I don't think I lost any significant time, but that power down feature on the Qualcomm still seems pretty stupid to me. Once again, what if I had been sleeping and the assignment was time-sensitive? I prefer to leave my phone off while I sleep. Dumb.
I had to bounce up to our Kansas City drop yard and trade my empty trailer for a loaded one headed to Minnesota, dontcha know. You ever notice how sometimes you just do things and you're not sure why? I looked at the directions to the Kansas City drop yard. I didn't need to look at the directions. I've been to the yard a few times lately and I remembered that it was by the roller coasters, only a few miles from the Flying J. For whatever reason though, I felt compelled to look. Hey, how about that. We got a new Kansas City yard. Good thing I looked.
The new yard is by far the best of the three that we've used in Kansas City during my time on the road. It's in an uncrowded area that is easy to access. The lot itself is roomy enough to navigate easily. It's also well maintained and not shared with any other companies. Good deal.
After my quick drop/hook I was rolling up I-35 with a nice easy 7,000 pound load. My engine brake definitely appreciates the lighter burden. This one delivers tomorrow night, so I stopped for some dinner and a nap when I got to Des Moines. Not surprisingly, I didn't feel like driving anymore once my nap was over. A few hundred miles of driving won't kill me tomorrow.
My week... oh hell, you know the words by now... it's starting to shape up pretty well as long as I can get something decent for the weekend. I'm not sure where I'll park out in the boondocks tomorrow after I get unloaded, but I always seem to sort that out one way or another. My miles will be at 2,098 and I'll have around 24 hours to get one more dispatch for the week. Can anybody say, "Pre-plan?" Eh, I won't hold my breath.
Ok I told myself I didn't need to look up the word seppuku. I mean did I really need to know what that meant? Well apparently so because I came back to see how it was spelled and looked it up on line.
ReplyDeleteI think that would be an honorable way for all of our "Representatives"to make up for the way they've been asleep at the wheel.
Unfortunately Senator Grassley wasn't referring to his colleagues. Apparently private citizens should be ashamed, but the politicians are doing a real bang-up job.
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