Believe it or not, my employer gives me bogus information every now and then. Yeah really, who knew? This morning's version included slightly inaccurate directions. My directions said to bear right on such and such, when the correct route was to stay left. I wound up at a dead end in an airport, but I found enough room to turn around and sort it out. Then I got to the consignee just ahead of my 7am scheduled arrival time. The place opened at 8am. Yeah really, who knew?
On the other hand, sometimes mistakes made by my employer turn out pretty well in the end. I sat at the dock waiting for the unloader people to show up for work. By the time they did get started, there were four other trucks lined up single file waiting to get at the prime dockfront real estate occupied by your humble blogger. An 8am arrival likely would have caused me to wait longer than the hour caused by my wrongful dispatch. Good enough.
I was #1 on the board once I was empty and found myself in the usual 'which way to go' quandary. There is a Pilot in Wilmington, near this morning's consignee, but that place is not really a viable option for parking. I could head east to Jeffersonville and park at a truck stop or head back west to the rest area on I-71. No telling which way my next assignment would take me. I was in the mood for some breakfast so that made the decision an easy one. I bounced over to the T/A and kicked back for a few minutes. By the time I logged onto my computer to check my board status, the web portal said that I was #0. Given the dumbass power down feature on the Qualcomm, I had to fire up my truck to get the assignment. That feature is part of a tired old commentary on this blog, I suppose, so we'll leave it at that.
Yeah, I had to go back to the west for my pickup after having gone east to find parking. Story of life. I had time for a nice long nap before I had to head to the shipper. Since we know that I don't sleep very well at night (last night being no exception) and I had to get up early this morning, this was welcome news. And twenty minutes later I was wide awake. Oh well, if it's good enough for DaVinci it's good enough for me.
My 14 hour clock was already ticking so I came up with the bright idea to head over to I-75 and park at the southbound rest area outside the Cincinnati suburbs. From there I could head down the road a few miles to the next shipper once my appointment was closer. I was told not to arrive early, so this seemed like the next best option. Haha, the joke's on me. I-75 is under construction and the rest area is closed. Well, shit. Turn around and park on the northbound side? Go past Cincinnati and look for somewhere on the west side of town? Go to the shipper and ignore my instructions? While I was weighing the options, I spotted a few trucks parked at a WalMart. I turned off and pulled into the lot, nestling myself comfortably between the 'No Truck Parking' signs and the parked trucks.
As one might imagine, things were abuzz in Michigan today. I spent most of the afternoon fielding phone calls from friends and listening to the various postulations about what the latest news means. The folks around Detroit (of every philosophical stripe) don't seem to be impressed, to put it mildly. I don't know man. I just don't know. I must just be a simpleton or something because things don't seem to add up. Most of the people I know are hanging on for the ride and hoping for the best. I just don't know.
After killing enough time at the WalMart I hopped over to the shipper and picked up my load heading to... wait for it... wait for it... Taylor, Michigan. How about that. Actually it's headed to Canada but my end of the deal took me to Taylor. They had me at the dock for quite a while and then it was homeward bound. A quick five hour drive up I-75 put a nice finish on the day.
It's pretty nice to get out of the truck for a bit, even if it is only for a ten hour break. I'll give the terminal a call tomorrow morning and we'll see what the freight gods throw my way.
On the other hand, sometimes mistakes made by my employer turn out pretty well in the end. I sat at the dock waiting for the unloader people to show up for work. By the time they did get started, there were four other trucks lined up single file waiting to get at the prime dockfront real estate occupied by your humble blogger. An 8am arrival likely would have caused me to wait longer than the hour caused by my wrongful dispatch. Good enough.
I was #1 on the board once I was empty and found myself in the usual 'which way to go' quandary. There is a Pilot in Wilmington, near this morning's consignee, but that place is not really a viable option for parking. I could head east to Jeffersonville and park at a truck stop or head back west to the rest area on I-71. No telling which way my next assignment would take me. I was in the mood for some breakfast so that made the decision an easy one. I bounced over to the T/A and kicked back for a few minutes. By the time I logged onto my computer to check my board status, the web portal said that I was #0. Given the dumbass power down feature on the Qualcomm, I had to fire up my truck to get the assignment. That feature is part of a tired old commentary on this blog, I suppose, so we'll leave it at that.
Yeah, I had to go back to the west for my pickup after having gone east to find parking. Story of life. I had time for a nice long nap before I had to head to the shipper. Since we know that I don't sleep very well at night (last night being no exception) and I had to get up early this morning, this was welcome news. And twenty minutes later I was wide awake. Oh well, if it's good enough for DaVinci it's good enough for me.
My 14 hour clock was already ticking so I came up with the bright idea to head over to I-75 and park at the southbound rest area outside the Cincinnati suburbs. From there I could head down the road a few miles to the next shipper once my appointment was closer. I was told not to arrive early, so this seemed like the next best option. Haha, the joke's on me. I-75 is under construction and the rest area is closed. Well, shit. Turn around and park on the northbound side? Go past Cincinnati and look for somewhere on the west side of town? Go to the shipper and ignore my instructions? While I was weighing the options, I spotted a few trucks parked at a WalMart. I turned off and pulled into the lot, nestling myself comfortably between the 'No Truck Parking' signs and the parked trucks.
As one might imagine, things were abuzz in Michigan today. I spent most of the afternoon fielding phone calls from friends and listening to the various postulations about what the latest news means. The folks around Detroit (of every philosophical stripe) don't seem to be impressed, to put it mildly. I don't know man. I just don't know. I must just be a simpleton or something because things don't seem to add up. Most of the people I know are hanging on for the ride and hoping for the best. I just don't know.
After killing enough time at the WalMart I hopped over to the shipper and picked up my load heading to... wait for it... wait for it... Taylor, Michigan. How about that. Actually it's headed to Canada but my end of the deal took me to Taylor. They had me at the dock for quite a while and then it was homeward bound. A quick five hour drive up I-75 put a nice finish on the day.
It's pretty nice to get out of the truck for a bit, even if it is only for a ten hour break. I'll give the terminal a call tomorrow morning and we'll see what the freight gods throw my way.
Yep that Qualcomm power off thing is a genuine PITA.
ReplyDeleteI would think that they would have some sort of a 'wake on LAN' type of feature built in so that the satellite signal could turn the thing on.
ReplyDeleteIf a regular computer can wake when it receives a signal, I'm not sure why these fancy gadgets can't (or at least don't) do the same thing. I don't know.