Out of bed at noon, few Advils for the headache, out to the road...
I got about halfway across Arkansas before I realized that I was traversing some pretty sparsely populated areas and I really didn't know where I would be spending the night. After I got onto US-65 and then caught up with US-82 in Lake Village, I spotted a Citgo with a few trucks parked out back. I got a spot, so that's that.
I think I have about an hour to drive by 6:30pm tomorrow night. I suppose I'll be able to handle it.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
2/27/09
By golly, I guess we would have to call this a record-setting month for the ole Godfather. The first week of February saw me earning $1629.68 in gross pay, easily my best week since turning in the suit and tie for the driving shoes. The last week of February has now found me earning $582.88 in gross pay, easily my worst week since escaping the $.26 per mile training wage quite a while back. Records on both ends, within the same short month. How about that.
That bastard in Atlanta really did a number on me, didn't he? A day and a half of down time last week followed by two full days of down time this week. I would hazard a guess that he cost me easily a few hundred bucks. Oh well, at least I got a day of layover this time around. Otherwise we would have been flirting with a $500 week.
So yeah, foreshadowing and all that other literary nonsense aside, today wasn't too freaking productive. I got my next assignment while I was snoring away in Sherman. It seems that I was interviewing for the editor's job at some kind of website or something at the time. Who really knows when it comes to dreams though? They're tough to remember sometimes. In any case, I got out of bed and took a look at the Qualcomm. Yay. Back to bed.
When I finally got up and then hung around to finish out my break, it was time to head eastward to Paris, Texas. If Newark is the Paris of the Northeast and Gary is the Paris of the Midwest, I suppose that Paris may have to be the Paris of the Southwest, but I digress. I had to make a drop/hook there and then head a few hundred miles to Indianola, Mississippi. This would be a nice quick run to make use of what was left of my Friday. Oh no, though. Oh no. This one delivers Sunday evening. Appointment delivery -6:30pm. Yeah, seriously.
I got to the shipper in Paris a few hours early and checked in. My loaded trailer was ready to roll so that was a nice surprise. I had been expecting to wait at least a little while. I got out of there pretty quickly and hopped back on the road. I was engaged in the ill-advised process of rolling down the highway and looking at my truck stop directory when a thought occurred to me. 'Why not park now?' I had been thinking that I would drive until I got tired, but why? I mean, I have all day Saturday and all day Sunday to cover a fairly short drive. My truck is still running like shit. It was starting to rain. People kept cutting me off and then slowing down. Every time our dear leader opens his mouth, my IRA loses a thousand dollars (and I have always invested way more conservatively than people in their early 30's are "supposed to"). I'm fully convinced that the world is out to get me. Probably a good time to shut it down.
So I shut it down. I remembered a little gas station with a few truck parking spaces in Texarkana from the last time I stayed in this area. Good old Circle K. There's a Flying J a few miles further along but that particular one sucks balls. There's a rest area not far from here but I wasn't in the mood to do the 'vending machine for dinner' thing. Circle K it is then. Since I really don't have to drive much at all tomorrow, I certainly won't be setting an alarm. Sjoe was telling me that they sell frosty cold iced tea here, among other things. I had no idea.
That bastard in Atlanta really did a number on me, didn't he? A day and a half of down time last week followed by two full days of down time this week. I would hazard a guess that he cost me easily a few hundred bucks. Oh well, at least I got a day of layover this time around. Otherwise we would have been flirting with a $500 week.
So yeah, foreshadowing and all that other literary nonsense aside, today wasn't too freaking productive. I got my next assignment while I was snoring away in Sherman. It seems that I was interviewing for the editor's job at some kind of website or something at the time. Who really knows when it comes to dreams though? They're tough to remember sometimes. In any case, I got out of bed and took a look at the Qualcomm. Yay. Back to bed.
When I finally got up and then hung around to finish out my break, it was time to head eastward to Paris, Texas. If Newark is the Paris of the Northeast and Gary is the Paris of the Midwest, I suppose that Paris may have to be the Paris of the Southwest, but I digress. I had to make a drop/hook there and then head a few hundred miles to Indianola, Mississippi. This would be a nice quick run to make use of what was left of my Friday. Oh no, though. Oh no. This one delivers Sunday evening. Appointment delivery -6:30pm. Yeah, seriously.
I got to the shipper in Paris a few hours early and checked in. My loaded trailer was ready to roll so that was a nice surprise. I had been expecting to wait at least a little while. I got out of there pretty quickly and hopped back on the road. I was engaged in the ill-advised process of rolling down the highway and looking at my truck stop directory when a thought occurred to me. 'Why not park now?' I had been thinking that I would drive until I got tired, but why? I mean, I have all day Saturday and all day Sunday to cover a fairly short drive. My truck is still running like shit. It was starting to rain. People kept cutting me off and then slowing down. Every time our dear leader opens his mouth, my IRA loses a thousand dollars (and I have always invested way more conservatively than people in their early 30's are "supposed to"). I'm fully convinced that the world is out to get me. Probably a good time to shut it down.
So I shut it down. I remembered a little gas station with a few truck parking spaces in Texarkana from the last time I stayed in this area. Good old Circle K. There's a Flying J a few miles further along but that particular one sucks balls. There's a rest area not far from here but I wasn't in the mood to do the 'vending machine for dinner' thing. Circle K it is then. Since I really don't have to drive much at all tomorrow, I certainly won't be setting an alarm. Sjoe was telling me that they sell frosty cold iced tea here, among other things. I had no idea.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
2/26/09
What a long freaking day. The guys at the body shop got me in and started working bright and early. After a few hours I was outiftted with a new fender, a new bumper, and new cab extenders. I headed over to the dispatch window and put myself on the board. The dispatcher informed me that I was #15 and things were moving slowly. I took this to mean that I would be in Joplin for another day.
It only took a couple of hours for my turn to come around. I had three options from which to choose. I could take an empty trailer to our Kansas City yard this evening, swap it for a loaded trailer, and run overnight to Illinois. I could head over to Coffeyville, Kansas tonight and pick up a load heading for a Saturday delivery in Lexington, Kentucky. Or I could wait at the yard for a relay to arrive and then run it overnight to Sherman, Texas.
The Illinois run would probably have been the best bet strictly in terms of my week's pay. There tends to be a lot of freight up that way and I would be empty on Friday. I was up at 6am to get into the shop though and had no desire to drive through the night. The Texas one was a similar deal, but with fewer miles. That one also would put me in the Lancaster dispatch zone, likely behind a bunch of other drivers once I got on the board. I took the Kentucky run, thinking that there would be a good chance to get a Saturday dispatch out of one of our shippers in the Louisville area.
My pickup in Coffeyville was set for 9pm. Given the aforementioned desire not to drive overnight, I headed over a couple of hours early. I hoped to get loaded and then head up the road for a few hours before calling it a night. As I turned onto the highway where the shipper was located I received a message. 'Load cancelled.' Nice. I called the dispatcher to see what he wanted me to do. He said that there would be another load out of Coffeyville tomorrow if I wanted to wait out there. Or I could head back to Joplin. There was no place for me to park in Coffeyville. The local truck stop was jammed up by the time I passed it. Back to Joplin then...
I dropped my empty trailer and went back to the dispatch window to get on the board once more. The dispatcher with whom I spoke on the phone was gone, but the guy who was there presently was expecting me. He knew that I was on my way back to Joplin and there was a load waiting for me. Guess what I got. Sherman, Texas. The worst of the three. A 286 mile run, overnight, landing me in the Lancaster zone. Good times, good times. At least I got the extra 156 miles for going to Coffeyville and back.
I had time for a two-hour nap on my way down through Oklahoma. This was quite helpful to the cause. I made an easy drop/hook at the consignee in Sherman and then found a spot at some kind of abandoned truck stop or something. Good enough. I'm going to bed.
I'm #17 on the board right now, so hopefully by the time I sleep for a while they'll have some news for me. I got my $60 in layover pay for my time in the shop and I'm at 994 miles for the week. I don't guess there's any chance at a good week at this point, but maybe a decent run for the weekend can help me avoid another terrible one.
It only took a couple of hours for my turn to come around. I had three options from which to choose. I could take an empty trailer to our Kansas City yard this evening, swap it for a loaded trailer, and run overnight to Illinois. I could head over to Coffeyville, Kansas tonight and pick up a load heading for a Saturday delivery in Lexington, Kentucky. Or I could wait at the yard for a relay to arrive and then run it overnight to Sherman, Texas.
The Illinois run would probably have been the best bet strictly in terms of my week's pay. There tends to be a lot of freight up that way and I would be empty on Friday. I was up at 6am to get into the shop though and had no desire to drive through the night. The Texas one was a similar deal, but with fewer miles. That one also would put me in the Lancaster dispatch zone, likely behind a bunch of other drivers once I got on the board. I took the Kentucky run, thinking that there would be a good chance to get a Saturday dispatch out of one of our shippers in the Louisville area.
My pickup in Coffeyville was set for 9pm. Given the aforementioned desire not to drive overnight, I headed over a couple of hours early. I hoped to get loaded and then head up the road for a few hours before calling it a night. As I turned onto the highway where the shipper was located I received a message. 'Load cancelled.' Nice. I called the dispatcher to see what he wanted me to do. He said that there would be another load out of Coffeyville tomorrow if I wanted to wait out there. Or I could head back to Joplin. There was no place for me to park in Coffeyville. The local truck stop was jammed up by the time I passed it. Back to Joplin then...
I dropped my empty trailer and went back to the dispatch window to get on the board once more. The dispatcher with whom I spoke on the phone was gone, but the guy who was there presently was expecting me. He knew that I was on my way back to Joplin and there was a load waiting for me. Guess what I got. Sherman, Texas. The worst of the three. A 286 mile run, overnight, landing me in the Lancaster zone. Good times, good times. At least I got the extra 156 miles for going to Coffeyville and back.
I had time for a two-hour nap on my way down through Oklahoma. This was quite helpful to the cause. I made an easy drop/hook at the consignee in Sherman and then found a spot at some kind of abandoned truck stop or something. Good enough. I'm going to bed.
I'm #17 on the board right now, so hopefully by the time I sleep for a while they'll have some news for me. I got my $60 in layover pay for my time in the shop and I'm at 994 miles for the week. I don't guess there's any chance at a good week at this point, but maybe a decent run for the weekend can help me avoid another terrible one.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
2/25/09
Ahh yes, just another case of The Man tryin' to keep a brother down. I waited and waited for the tractor shop last night. They never came a-knockin'. Then at the buttcrack of dawn today, they woke me and did their business. I have no idea what went on in there but my truck was running like shit when I got it back. That happens sometimes with cold fluids and stuff (maybe, I think?) so we'll see if it shakes out by tomorrow. Perhaps they added some stuff after fixing whatever they fixed. Anyhow, yeah, my truck was running like shit.
Then I hung around through the morning and into the afternoon waiting for my call from the body shop. At one point my Qualcomm beeped and I thought it was them but it was someone else. I was getting the obligatory congratulation for having no violations on my DOT deal in Kentucky last week. At some point, having showered and eaten and gotten my permit book reviewed and exhausted pretty much every plausible reason to stay near the driver services building, I pulled across the lot and parked in front of the body shop. Ten minutes later a guy walked over and told me to pull into a bay. Hmm...
He pulled off the old logos from my doors and put new (white) Con-way Truckload logos in their stead. The cab extender air deflector things on my truck had stress cracks emanating from the rivets at the bottom, so he pulled those off. Apparently they're being replaced with a slightly shorter pair. As for the new parts... no. They were still being painted today and won't be ready for installation until tomorrow. I'm supposed to head back over there at 6am and they say that they'll be ready to rumble.
So this week has gone from one in which I was empty on Tuesday morning with just under 500 miles to one in which I'll be empty on Thursday morning with just over 500 miles. Anybody think I can go another year and a half without seeing this town? Lord willing, we can pray.
Then I hung around through the morning and into the afternoon waiting for my call from the body shop. At one point my Qualcomm beeped and I thought it was them but it was someone else. I was getting the obligatory congratulation for having no violations on my DOT deal in Kentucky last week. At some point, having showered and eaten and gotten my permit book reviewed and exhausted pretty much every plausible reason to stay near the driver services building, I pulled across the lot and parked in front of the body shop. Ten minutes later a guy walked over and told me to pull into a bay. Hmm...
He pulled off the old logos from my doors and put new (white) Con-way Truckload logos in their stead. The cab extender air deflector things on my truck had stress cracks emanating from the rivets at the bottom, so he pulled those off. Apparently they're being replaced with a slightly shorter pair. As for the new parts... no. They were still being painted today and won't be ready for installation until tomorrow. I'm supposed to head back over there at 6am and they say that they'll be ready to rumble.
So this week has gone from one in which I was empty on Tuesday morning with just under 500 miles to one in which I'll be empty on Thursday morning with just over 500 miles. Anybody think I can go another year and a half without seeing this town? Lord willing, we can pray.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
2/24/09
Today's episode of Fenian Godfather Jeopardy;
A: The place where promising weeks go to die.
Q: What is Joplin, Missouri?
Yep. I got up this morning and finished off my trip. The four pallets took only a few minutes to unload. From there I headed westward toward that medium Pilot truck stop near the freeway. I was hoping that enough people had left this morning to leave me a decent place to park. As I approached the freeway, my Qualcomm beeped at me. 'Planned deadhead.' If I hadn't given away the rest of the story in the opening of this post, the geography enthusiasts among you probably would have figured out that Joplin is only 75 miles from Springdale at this point. Shit.
So I pulled into the inspection bay in Joplin and the guys did their thing. The alternating looks of surprise and amusement were pretty funny to me. What was so surprising? Behold the end of an era...
By this time tomorrow, that door will say "Con-way Truckload." I can't say for sure, but I suspect that I may have been the Josey Wales of this little transition from CFI to Con-way. Everyone else surrendered to the new regime but I was the lone holdout. They started the rebranding toward the end of 2007 as trucks passed through Joplin. This is my first trip to Joplin since that time. Of course, there may be a bunch of other trucks out there with Contract Freighters on them. I really don't know. I just know that I haven't seen any of them in a long time. So I used the little Google feature up there in the corner and took a look. I've managed to steer clear of this place since August 13, 2007. Oh well. All good things must come to an end.
So we already knew that I had some body work to be done after that fella in Atlanta did his bit on my fender. In addition, I was way overdue for an alignment. I had suspected as much, since my steering wheel had developed a bit of a wiggle at high speeds, but I'm not a mechanic. I just go with the flow. There is also a recall on my transmission something-or-other valve. And my tires were due for a rotation.
Our alignment bay is down for some sprucing up ahead of some important visitors, so I headed down the street to a local tire shop for that part. Back at the terminal, I checked in with the body shop. Pretty basic repair job there... for 99% of our drivers. My truck isn't red or white. For me, they'll have to get some black parts ready. I get to wait until tomorrow. Oh joy. I took care of the tires a little while ago and the tractor shop should get to me for the transmission work at some point today. Then tomorrow I'll get the new fender and bumper installed before getting myself back on the board. Then there will be fifty people ahead of me and I'll once again convince myself that the whole world is out to get me. Just another case of The Man tryin' to keep a brother down.
A: The place where promising weeks go to die.
Q: What is Joplin, Missouri?
Yep. I got up this morning and finished off my trip. The four pallets took only a few minutes to unload. From there I headed westward toward that medium Pilot truck stop near the freeway. I was hoping that enough people had left this morning to leave me a decent place to park. As I approached the freeway, my Qualcomm beeped at me. 'Planned deadhead.' If I hadn't given away the rest of the story in the opening of this post, the geography enthusiasts among you probably would have figured out that Joplin is only 75 miles from Springdale at this point. Shit.
So I pulled into the inspection bay in Joplin and the guys did their thing. The alternating looks of surprise and amusement were pretty funny to me. What was so surprising? Behold the end of an era...
By this time tomorrow, that door will say "Con-way Truckload." I can't say for sure, but I suspect that I may have been the Josey Wales of this little transition from CFI to Con-way. Everyone else surrendered to the new regime but I was the lone holdout. They started the rebranding toward the end of 2007 as trucks passed through Joplin. This is my first trip to Joplin since that time. Of course, there may be a bunch of other trucks out there with Contract Freighters on them. I really don't know. I just know that I haven't seen any of them in a long time. So I used the little Google feature up there in the corner and took a look. I've managed to steer clear of this place since August 13, 2007. Oh well. All good things must come to an end.So we already knew that I had some body work to be done after that fella in Atlanta did his bit on my fender. In addition, I was way overdue for an alignment. I had suspected as much, since my steering wheel had developed a bit of a wiggle at high speeds, but I'm not a mechanic. I just go with the flow. There is also a recall on my transmission something-or-other valve. And my tires were due for a rotation.
Our alignment bay is down for some sprucing up ahead of some important visitors, so I headed down the street to a local tire shop for that part. Back at the terminal, I checked in with the body shop. Pretty basic repair job there... for 99% of our drivers. My truck isn't red or white. For me, they'll have to get some black parts ready. I get to wait until tomorrow. Oh joy. I took care of the tires a little while ago and the tractor shop should get to me for the transmission work at some point today. Then tomorrow I'll get the new fender and bumper installed before getting myself back on the board. Then there will be fifty people ahead of me and I'll once again convince myself that the whole world is out to get me. Just another case of The Man tryin' to keep a brother down.
Monday, February 23, 2009
2/23/09
After something along the lines of 350,000 miles on the road, I've covered almost every major highway in America. Today I got to check out some uncharted (for me) territory. My satellite beeped at some bizarre hour last night or this morning or whatever it was. Hopeless insomniac that I am, I was awake at the time. It was a pre-planned load to be picked up after I made my drop this morning. Good deal. I'm not exactly sure who was planning loads at 2am or 3am or whatever it was... but good deal.
My drive down to the consignee was less than twenty miles and didn't present any issues, once I actually got rolling. It was fairly cool last night but not too cold. Ergo, I slept with my truck turned off. When I reached down and turned the key this morning, it just spun around and nothing beeped or clicked or anything. Shit. After spending ten minutes looking (like a moron) for the screws to remove the panel and see what was going on with the ignition switch, I got pissed off and yanked on my keys as they were still engaged in the switch. How about that? The panel just snaps right out without any screws. I found some kind of plug that appeared to match up with the ignition module. Plugged it in, turned the key, yep. That was the ticket. From that point forward I encountered no issues.
I had a drop/hook at the customer so that was nice. This was one of those loads where, along with my dispatch, I got the number of an empty trailer to retrieve. This typically means that the delivery is a drop/hook. That was a brokered load though, so I wasn't convinced that it would be a drop/hook. It was. Good deal.
Then I had to shoot up to Troy and make my next pickup. My appointment was for 10am but things had gone so quickly at the previous stop that I was about an hour and a half early. The lady said that it would be around an hour until they were ready to load me. I backed into the dock and slept like a log for an hour. (See earlier about that insomnia bit from last night.) Once my trailer started bouncing I got back out of bed and thought that I would be hanging around for a bit. Nope. As quickly as they started loading me, they finished. Four pallets. 2,300 pounds. Good deal.
From Texas I had a good trip to the north. I got through Dallas well ahead of the afternoon rush. Then the drive on a sunny afternoon through Oklahoma on US-69 was calm and peaceful. Tomorrow morning's destination is Springdale, Arkansas. This destination found me heading east on I-40 and up I-540. As nearly as I can recall, I've never been on I-540 before. Pretty cool road on a sunny day with a light load. The road was mostly rolling hills with a few decent climbs where I was able to blow past the other trucks with the heavier loads. I've stopped for the night in Greenland, since my directory lists the only truck stop in Springdale as being a Pilot with a medium parking lot. 'Pilot - medium' tends to be code for 'nowhere to park.' I played it safe instead and left myself around fifteen or twenty miles to drive in the morning.
For the first time since that massive week at the beginning of the month, I wrap up my Monday with some decent miles on the books. 17 miles on the deadhead and 457 loaded miles should have me set up for a decent week. I have plenty of hours available on account of the restart that I caught while my truck was in the shop. Good deal.
My drive down to the consignee was less than twenty miles and didn't present any issues, once I actually got rolling. It was fairly cool last night but not too cold. Ergo, I slept with my truck turned off. When I reached down and turned the key this morning, it just spun around and nothing beeped or clicked or anything. Shit. After spending ten minutes looking (like a moron) for the screws to remove the panel and see what was going on with the ignition switch, I got pissed off and yanked on my keys as they were still engaged in the switch. How about that? The panel just snaps right out without any screws. I found some kind of plug that appeared to match up with the ignition module. Plugged it in, turned the key, yep. That was the ticket. From that point forward I encountered no issues.
I had a drop/hook at the customer so that was nice. This was one of those loads where, along with my dispatch, I got the number of an empty trailer to retrieve. This typically means that the delivery is a drop/hook. That was a brokered load though, so I wasn't convinced that it would be a drop/hook. It was. Good deal.
Then I had to shoot up to Troy and make my next pickup. My appointment was for 10am but things had gone so quickly at the previous stop that I was about an hour and a half early. The lady said that it would be around an hour until they were ready to load me. I backed into the dock and slept like a log for an hour. (See earlier about that insomnia bit from last night.) Once my trailer started bouncing I got back out of bed and thought that I would be hanging around for a bit. Nope. As quickly as they started loading me, they finished. Four pallets. 2,300 pounds. Good deal.
From Texas I had a good trip to the north. I got through Dallas well ahead of the afternoon rush. Then the drive on a sunny afternoon through Oklahoma on US-69 was calm and peaceful. Tomorrow morning's destination is Springdale, Arkansas. This destination found me heading east on I-40 and up I-540. As nearly as I can recall, I've never been on I-540 before. Pretty cool road on a sunny day with a light load. The road was mostly rolling hills with a few decent climbs where I was able to blow past the other trucks with the heavier loads. I've stopped for the night in Greenland, since my directory lists the only truck stop in Springdale as being a Pilot with a medium parking lot. 'Pilot - medium' tends to be code for 'nowhere to park.' I played it safe instead and left myself around fifteen or twenty miles to drive in the morning.
For the first time since that massive week at the beginning of the month, I wrap up my Monday with some decent miles on the books. 17 miles on the deadhead and 457 loaded miles should have me set up for a decent week. I have plenty of hours available on account of the restart that I caught while my truck was in the shop. Good deal.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
2/22/09
Leisurely Sunday drive without anything real to say... that counts as a good day in my book. My personal outlook for our nation's future continues to deteriorate on a steady basis, but I guess there ain't a whole lot I can do about that. Might as well enjoy the sunshine while It's still free and enjoy the day for what it's worth.
And this story, I don't care who you are, would have to make you chuckle at least a little bit.
And this story, I don't care who you are, would have to make you chuckle at least a little bit.
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