First vision this morning - whiteness. We're not talking about one of those misguided youth rallies down south either. It was either snowing like hell or the snow from last night was blowing like hell or something. Whatever was the deal, I went back to bed. Screw that.
The next time I got up and looked outside, I still saw largely bleached out conditions. There didn't seem to be any snow blowing across my windshield this time though. Okay then, I guess I might as well drive this truck for a while.
It took about a hundred miles to get to where the roads seemed relatively decent. It took about a hundred more miles from there for the icy patches to disappear. It took about a hundred more miles from there for the sky to open up. The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. By the time I got into Iowa I was ready to call it a day. I think I have around 400 miles to go from here, so we'll leave that for tomorrow. The week wraps up with 2,176 miles. On the heels of our Fenian Godfather record from last week, that'll do.
So I heard on the radio this afternoon that today is Valentine's Day. I know that some who read this blog may be inclined to think that your don has grown immune to the ways of that wily little Cupid and his ilk. Well, your inclination would be correct. Valentine's Day, to me, is simply the day that those savage Italians murdered a bunch of innocent, fun loving employees of the Irishmen on the north side of Chicago back in '29. This year though, I just might be in love. Part economist and part rabblerouser? Be still my beating heart...
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
2/13/09
Out of Idaho and into Utah, the roads were clear and dry. Through the canyons and back up into the mountains, the roads were clear and dry. All the way across Wyoming, the roads were clear and dry. The sky was sunny and the wind was relatively calm. Then the last thirty or forty mile stretch coming out of the mountains and into Cheyenne was a wicked slick pain in the ass. Fortunately, I was planning all along to stop at the truck stop at Exit 370. It only took a few Hail Marys to get me here.
I've maintained a pretty good pace to this point, so the weekend won't require any really long days of driving. I have no idea what kind of road conditions I'll face tomorrow in Nebraska. I don't recall being terribly impressed with the way they handled the roads the last time I crossed that state in the winter. It's nice to know that I can shut down early if the situation warrants.
I stumbled across something for you guys who think I'm paranoid when I say that we're getting a little ahead of ourselves with the new messiah worship. I leave you tonight with this, an actual photo taken at a Border's in Texas...
I've maintained a pretty good pace to this point, so the weekend won't require any really long days of driving. I have no idea what kind of road conditions I'll face tomorrow in Nebraska. I don't recall being terribly impressed with the way they handled the roads the last time I crossed that state in the winter. It's nice to know that I can shut down early if the situation warrants.
I stumbled across something for you guys who think I'm paranoid when I say that we're getting a little ahead of ourselves with the new messiah worship. I leave you tonight with this, an actual photo taken at a Border's in Texas...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
2/12/09
There's a neat little tradition that I've developed in my line of work. Whenever things go as planned, I take them in stride and do my job. Whenever plans change, I immediately try to figure out whether or not I'm getting screwed. I suppose that, once I've really earned my stripes out here, I'll be able to assume that I'm always getting screwed. I haven't reached that point yet though. For now I prefer to stay somewhere within the confines of reality.
As I slept soundly this morning, I was awakened by the lovely chirp of the Qualcomm. Yep, that screwed me over. Good luck getting back to sleep. I took a look at the message - "Load unassigned." Definitely getting screwed. A few minutes later I got my new assignment. I had a pickup in Pasco with a delivery in Pasco, followed by the original load to El Paso. Well, that wasn't so bad then. I wasn't sure what the Pasco thing was about, but I assumed that it was a local run. I could make an extra twenty bucks for a quick detour without losing any miles in the process. Clearly not getting screwed.
On the way to this morning's consignee, I turned down their street and saw a truck with its left turn signal on. He was waiting to pull into a parking lot. The lot was completely blocked by two other trucks. I couldn't see the sign on the building but I suspected that he was going to the same place as I. I pulled around him and continued down the road. The customer was said to open at 8am and I was around twenty minutes early. I had no desire to sit parked in the traffic lane for twenty minutes. Kennewick is not Laredo, after all. Getting screwed again? Eh, maybe.
As I passed, I saw that the lot did indeed belong to my consignee. I cruised around for a few minutes, looking for a way to double back. I had no idea where I was going. I just stuck with my usual principles - try to favor left turns, avoid skinny roads, that sort of thing. It wasn't too difficult to find a decent route back to the consignee's street. By the time I got back there, the turning truck had squeezed himself into a neighboring lot next to the other two trucks. I saw what appeared to be a big enough opening to insert myself into the mix and get me off the street. I got 'er in there.
The consignee opened the gate a few minutes later and we took turns filing in. As I was retrieving my paperwork after being unloaded, I got a call from someone in Joplin. They needed to know if I would be empty soon, as they needed me to pick up a load in Pasco and drop it at the ConWay yard in the same town. (This would be the Pasco to Pasco trip that woke me this morning.) The timing worked out perfectly and I got to the shipper in Pasco right on time.
Once I got backed into the loading dock, my Qualcomm chirped again. "Load unassigned. Another driver returned to work a day early." Totally getting screwed! Taking my load away and giving it to someone else? Screw him! Hang on though. There was more to the message... "I'll leave the Pasco to St. Louis load with you." (This was the one that I was originally going to leave at the ConWay yard.) Final judgment required a quick look at a map. I would be getting a little over 1,900 miles in lieu of the roughly 1,600 miles that I lost. Okay then, unscrewed.
Those guys had me loaded quickly and I was headed eastward along I-84. The weather forecast was the same as the weather forecast every damn day for the past week - snow in the mountains. In keeping with the trend of the past week however, the forecast was wrong. The roads were clean and dry all day. Not a single snowflake that I could see. This was a marked improvement over my only previous trip along that stretch of highway. I got down to Eden, Idaho and decided to call it a night. I would picture a place called Eden being a little warmer, but you know, good enough.
Tomorrow's forecast looks like I should be in decent shape crossing the Rockies. Since the forecast is always wrong though, I'll probably get screwed.
As I slept soundly this morning, I was awakened by the lovely chirp of the Qualcomm. Yep, that screwed me over. Good luck getting back to sleep. I took a look at the message - "Load unassigned." Definitely getting screwed. A few minutes later I got my new assignment. I had a pickup in Pasco with a delivery in Pasco, followed by the original load to El Paso. Well, that wasn't so bad then. I wasn't sure what the Pasco thing was about, but I assumed that it was a local run. I could make an extra twenty bucks for a quick detour without losing any miles in the process. Clearly not getting screwed.
On the way to this morning's consignee, I turned down their street and saw a truck with its left turn signal on. He was waiting to pull into a parking lot. The lot was completely blocked by two other trucks. I couldn't see the sign on the building but I suspected that he was going to the same place as I. I pulled around him and continued down the road. The customer was said to open at 8am and I was around twenty minutes early. I had no desire to sit parked in the traffic lane for twenty minutes. Kennewick is not Laredo, after all. Getting screwed again? Eh, maybe.
As I passed, I saw that the lot did indeed belong to my consignee. I cruised around for a few minutes, looking for a way to double back. I had no idea where I was going. I just stuck with my usual principles - try to favor left turns, avoid skinny roads, that sort of thing. It wasn't too difficult to find a decent route back to the consignee's street. By the time I got back there, the turning truck had squeezed himself into a neighboring lot next to the other two trucks. I saw what appeared to be a big enough opening to insert myself into the mix and get me off the street. I got 'er in there.
The consignee opened the gate a few minutes later and we took turns filing in. As I was retrieving my paperwork after being unloaded, I got a call from someone in Joplin. They needed to know if I would be empty soon, as they needed me to pick up a load in Pasco and drop it at the ConWay yard in the same town. (This would be the Pasco to Pasco trip that woke me this morning.) The timing worked out perfectly and I got to the shipper in Pasco right on time.
Once I got backed into the loading dock, my Qualcomm chirped again. "Load unassigned. Another driver returned to work a day early." Totally getting screwed! Taking my load away and giving it to someone else? Screw him! Hang on though. There was more to the message... "I'll leave the Pasco to St. Louis load with you." (This was the one that I was originally going to leave at the ConWay yard.) Final judgment required a quick look at a map. I would be getting a little over 1,900 miles in lieu of the roughly 1,600 miles that I lost. Okay then, unscrewed.
Those guys had me loaded quickly and I was headed eastward along I-84. The weather forecast was the same as the weather forecast every damn day for the past week - snow in the mountains. In keeping with the trend of the past week however, the forecast was wrong. The roads were clean and dry all day. Not a single snowflake that I could see. This was a marked improvement over my only previous trip along that stretch of highway. I got down to Eden, Idaho and decided to call it a night. I would picture a place called Eden being a little warmer, but you know, good enough.
Tomorrow's forecast looks like I should be in decent shape crossing the Rockies. Since the forecast is always wrong though, I'll probably get screwed.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
2/11/09
Okay, back to the driving thing. I guess it's good to get into the flow with a fairly easy day. My quick drive to the shipper was uneventful, then I got to hang out there for quite a while. According to the shippers, I was supposed to arrive at 10am. According to my dispatch, I was to arrive at 8am. Whatevs. At least I was there long enough to get an incredible carne asada burrito with no beans from the Mexican vendor guy who showed up at 11am. I'm not kidding, That thing was awesome.
Once I was loaded and rolling, I had the nice and easy route along the Columbia River on I-84. This is one of the nicer drives that I get to make from time to time. Scenic, uncongested, flat, simple. Good deal. As I rolled back through Portland I received a pre-plan for my next load. Given the way the week started out, this was obviously welcome news. It's always best to go into a weekend knowing that I have some miles coming. I'll be picking up in Washington and heading down to El Paso. So it looks like we'll have another couple days of the Edmund Hillary routine coming, but at least I should reach warmer weather before too long.
My consignee for tomorrow morning is in Kennewick, Washington. According to my directory there is a small truck stop in Kennewick. I think I saw it as I passed through, but it was on the southbound side of the very busy highway and I was heading northbound. Trying to figure out how to get over there and then pull in and park looked like it would be a pain in the ass. I kept rolling north instead and parked for the night in Pasco. It's only a few miles from here to the customer in Kennewick. Good enough.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have serious work to do. I'm going to compile a spending wish list so I'll be ready to spend my extra $13 a week starting in June, doing my part to stimulate the economy. And you cynics out there didn't think we would really get a tax cut.
Once I was loaded and rolling, I had the nice and easy route along the Columbia River on I-84. This is one of the nicer drives that I get to make from time to time. Scenic, uncongested, flat, simple. Good deal. As I rolled back through Portland I received a pre-plan for my next load. Given the way the week started out, this was obviously welcome news. It's always best to go into a weekend knowing that I have some miles coming. I'll be picking up in Washington and heading down to El Paso. So it looks like we'll have another couple days of the Edmund Hillary routine coming, but at least I should reach warmer weather before too long.
My consignee for tomorrow morning is in Kennewick, Washington. According to my directory there is a small truck stop in Kennewick. I think I saw it as I passed through, but it was on the southbound side of the very busy highway and I was heading northbound. Trying to figure out how to get over there and then pull in and park looked like it would be a pain in the ass. I kept rolling north instead and parked for the night in Pasco. It's only a few miles from here to the customer in Kennewick. Good enough.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have serious work to do. I'm going to compile a spending wish list so I'll be ready to spend my extra $13 a week starting in June, doing my part to stimulate the economy. And you cynics out there didn't think we would really get a tax cut.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
2/10/09
When you get a day off at a time when you feel like you could use a day off... not bad. I dragged myself out of bed this morning and sent in the form to put myself on the board. I was #2 at the time so I went back to bed. After spending yesterday lounging around, another day of the same sounded pretty good to me. There's rain and snow and crap coming down and I'm feeling rather lazy.
I got my next assignment at some point during the morning after I was up and at 'em. I'll be picking up around 25 miles to the north of here and then running a little over 200 miles to the east, along the gorge. I have to pick up at 8am tomorrow but, since they set their clocks funny around here, I won't have to get up too early. Driving 25 miles by 11am will be nice and easy.
The week will be off to quite a lousy start since I won't be empty until Thursday morning. That's the flip side of running out your hours in a week, I guess. The next week pays a price. It seems that I used to catch a nice long run out of the Pacific Northwest whenever I was up here in the past though. I haven't been up this way in quite some time. I guess I'll just hope that things are still the same. I'll be nice and rested and ready to rumble.
I was going to ask Chuck Schumer how the American people feel about pork spending, but he was kind enough to answer me in advance...
I got my next assignment at some point during the morning after I was up and at 'em. I'll be picking up around 25 miles to the north of here and then running a little over 200 miles to the east, along the gorge. I have to pick up at 8am tomorrow but, since they set their clocks funny around here, I won't have to get up too early. Driving 25 miles by 11am will be nice and easy.
The week will be off to quite a lousy start since I won't be empty until Thursday morning. That's the flip side of running out your hours in a week, I guess. The next week pays a price. It seems that I used to catch a nice long run out of the Pacific Northwest whenever I was up here in the past though. I haven't been up this way in quite some time. I guess I'll just hope that things are still the same. I'll be nice and rested and ready to rumble.
I was going to ask Chuck Schumer how the American people feel about pork spending, but he was kind enough to answer me in advance...
Monday, February 9, 2009
2/9/09
Well that's that. Apparently, we're all told, OTR drivers work 70 hours every week. I worked 70 hours in the last week. I can assure you that weeks like that are few and far between. Unfortunately, weeks with over $1,600 in gross pay are likewise few and far between. The conundrum persists. How can I work my typical 45-50 hours and get paid like I worked my ass off? Probably doing something other than driving a truck, I suppose. But sometimes I like driving a truck for a living. The conundrum persists.
The weather was a little dreary and a little rainy on the way up to Portland this morning. Still no snow though. I'll consider this a significant victory for global warming over those anti-science right-wingers out there. Good enough for me anyway. I was able to make it to Portland within my available hours. The last stretch over to my consignee on the northeast side of town by the airport? Well... I made it to Portland within my available hours. We'll leave it at that.
Now my log book is shot so I have to take today off. The glamorous Jubitz truck stop will be home for the day. I told my fleet manager that I'll get back on the board by tomorrow morning, but I'll only have a few hours coming to me at that time anyway. If I don't get anything assigned tomorrow, I'll stay here and get a 34-hour restart. If I do get something assigned, I'll pick it up and see what happens from there. I'll have lots of available hours coming back into the fold starting Wednesday. Either way I'm not complaining.
The weather was a little dreary and a little rainy on the way up to Portland this morning. Still no snow though. I'll consider this a significant victory for global warming over those anti-science right-wingers out there. Good enough for me anyway. I was able to make it to Portland within my available hours. The last stretch over to my consignee on the northeast side of town by the airport? Well... I made it to Portland within my available hours. We'll leave it at that.
Now my log book is shot so I have to take today off. The glamorous Jubitz truck stop will be home for the day. I told my fleet manager that I'll get back on the board by tomorrow morning, but I'll only have a few hours coming to me at that time anyway. If I don't get anything assigned tomorrow, I'll stay here and get a 34-hour restart. If I do get something assigned, I'll pick it up and see what happens from there. I'll have lots of available hours coming back into the fold starting Wednesday. Either way I'm not complaining.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
2/8/09
I was supposed to get up and rolling bright and early today. Yeah, that didn't exactly happen. When my alarm went off, I reached over and smacked my phone. The thing ended up on the floor in front of the driver's seat. I wasn't sure where it went when I hit it. I was pretty sure that I didn't care. I wasn't getting out of bed.
When I finally did wake a few hours later, I found fairly light traffic going through Sacramento and then up into the mountains. There was supposed to be snow, at least in the mountains, all over Southern Oregon this afternoon. The weatherman is 0-for-2 on this trip up the coast. I ain't complaining. It was rainy in some of the higher spots but the temperature never got below 40 degrees. There was a tiny bit of snow visible on the tops of the highest peaks. Definitely none falling today though.
I got into Oregon a little ways before my 70 hours had expired. I'll pick up enough to get to Portland tomorrow, then have to sit out the rest of the day. I don't pick up a ton of hours Tuesday either, but hopefully enough to get me off this coast. They have Veggie Burgers at SubWay out here man. This is not where I belong.
When I finally did wake a few hours later, I found fairly light traffic going through Sacramento and then up into the mountains. There was supposed to be snow, at least in the mountains, all over Southern Oregon this afternoon. The weatherman is 0-for-2 on this trip up the coast. I ain't complaining. It was rainy in some of the higher spots but the temperature never got below 40 degrees. There was a tiny bit of snow visible on the tops of the highest peaks. Definitely none falling today though.
I got into Oregon a little ways before my 70 hours had expired. I'll pick up enough to get to Portland tomorrow, then have to sit out the rest of the day. I don't pick up a ton of hours Tuesday either, but hopefully enough to get me off this coast. They have Veggie Burgers at SubWay out here man. This is not where I belong.
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