Yeah, I'm pretty dumb. I don't know exactly how many times I've been to the Lancaster terminal. I would imagine it's more than twenty. So this morning, as I left to start my day, I promptly forgot to make the quick left onto the access road that would take me back to the freeway. The little residential street ahead of me appeared to have some kind of construction on it. Nice. No big deal in the end though. I was able to hang a left into some other trucking company's driveway and spin back around. No harm, no foul.
It sounds like I've managed to stay about a day behind the bad weather crossing the country, so that's pretty groovy. And I got the nice and spacious handicapped shower at the Pilot in Sulphur Springs. Small victories, as I like to say. Small victories. We always have to find the positive news to counter the knowledge that watching your football team lose a big game might actually kill you.
It was a pretty straightforward seven-hour kind of day, taking me from Lancaster to West Memphis, so it seems that there isn't a whole lot else to talk about. My week wraps up with 3,001 miles to back up last week's 3,498. I could use a couple more decent weeks ahead of next month's trip home. So far, so good.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
3/27/09
Good news for those of us who may have been wondering if I caused the banking crisis. My eyes are green. I guess Señor Lula wasn't talking about me.
Today brought some of that good old hard driving across wide open spaces. My pickup was quick and easy and then I was eastbound and down, loaded up and trucking. This load is around 20,000 pounds, so I had a little bit of stability against the whipping winds. I still got rocked around quite a bit for most of the drive. I was able to get to our terminal in Lancaster within eleven hours so the rest of my trip will set up nicely. I can sleep with no alarm clock tonight and roll into West Menphis tomorrow. Then I can cross Kentucky and get somewhere close to my consignee on Sunday. Good deal.
So, somehow I suspect that Senator Grassley heard about my passing reference to his remarks about honor and suicide among the corporate class in this country. Since he must have found out that I enjoy a good chuckle, he decided to change course and bless me with this little gem. A decent effort for someone with the brain of a politician, I guess. Little did he know, however, I would be far more amused by the fact that Senator Conrad would completely miss the fact that he was the butt of a juvenile joke.
Today brought some of that good old hard driving across wide open spaces. My pickup was quick and easy and then I was eastbound and down, loaded up and trucking. This load is around 20,000 pounds, so I had a little bit of stability against the whipping winds. I still got rocked around quite a bit for most of the drive. I was able to get to our terminal in Lancaster within eleven hours so the rest of my trip will set up nicely. I can sleep with no alarm clock tonight and roll into West Menphis tomorrow. Then I can cross Kentucky and get somewhere close to my consignee on Sunday. Good deal.
So, somehow I suspect that Senator Grassley heard about my passing reference to his remarks about honor and suicide among the corporate class in this country. Since he must have found out that I enjoy a good chuckle, he decided to change course and bless me with this little gem. A decent effort for someone with the brain of a politician, I guess. Little did he know, however, I would be far more amused by the fact that Senator Conrad would completely miss the fact that he was the butt of a juvenile joke.
With simpletons like this in charge, it's a relief to see that they got back to the important business facing the nation. Buffoonery knows no party, my friends. There's plenty to go around.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
3/26/09
Well, I don't have that guy's job. So I have that going for me... which is nice. My job today was essentially to sit around and find ways to kill time. My drive into El Paso was rather uneventful and the unloading didn't take too long. Then I headed over to our yard to wait... and wait... and wait. I was #10 this morning. It only took a few hours to make my way up to #4. Then it took the rest of the night to get up to #1.The only highlight of the day was some sort of fire that happened somewhere behind our drop yard. I'm not sure exactly what was going on back there. A bunch of black smoke was billowing into the sky and emergency vehicles have been coming and going for several hours. On second thought, I guess that really wasn't much of a highlight. It has been a long and boring day so I'm reaching just a little. Hey, hang on a second. The chick at the SubWay down the street did make me a hell of an Italian BMT with double meat. That was a legitimate highlight.
I also got an assignment a few minutes ago that will put a happier finish on this installment of Tales from the Road. I'm picking up a load in the morning and heading for Ohio. When you somehow manage to pull together a 3,000 mile week and you're not really sure how it happened, you don't complain.
And baseball season starts a week from tomorrow.
And my safety bonus will be on tomorrow's check.
Oh hell, I guess today wasn't so bad after all.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
3/25/09
I can't say that I've ever tried to think of the elements that are required in order to produce maximum frustration. Let's see if we can do that now. (1) A two-lane highway. (2) Motorists who can't figure out how fast they want to go, but generally go a few miles per hour below the 65mph speed limit. (3) A truck governed at 65mph and a heavily loaded trailer. (4) A steady stream of oncoming traffic and the only passing lanes being placed on steep climbs. Yeah, that about sums up my morning - stuck behind those peckerheads and slowed by the hills every time it looked like I might get around. Rolling across scales in every freaking state didn't make it any better, while we're on the topic of frustration.
Anywho... the traffic shook out fairly well once I got onto the interstates. Good enough. I decided to stop in Vado, New Mexico for the night instead of driving into El Paso. About the only guaranteed parking space in El Paso at night would be at our drop yard. Then, by the time I doubled back to the delivery point, I would have gone twenty miles out of the way for no reason. I'll just knock out the last forty miles in the morning.
Anywho... the traffic shook out fairly well once I got onto the interstates. Good enough. I decided to stop in Vado, New Mexico for the night instead of driving into El Paso. About the only guaranteed parking space in El Paso at night would be at our drop yard. Then, by the time I doubled back to the delivery point, I would have gone twenty miles out of the way for no reason. I'll just knock out the last forty miles in the morning.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
3/24/09
I guess I probably took a pretty scenic route today. I really don’t know. By the time I headed east out of the Provo area on US-6, it was snowing pretty steadily. There wasn’t any accumulation on the roads but I couldn’t see much of the canyons and such. Then by the time I dropped down onto US-191 through Moab it was too dark to see anything other than the high beams from oncoming dipshits. It probably goes without saying that both my truck and I worked plenty hard on this trip. Lots of climbs, descents, tight curves, and all that goes with them.
I got down to Monticello tonight before deciding to pack it in and get some rest. I found something akin to a parking spot at a little truck stop. As long as some of the other trucks move before I am ready to leave, I should be able to get out of here. It looks like I’ll be able to make El Paso in one shot from here. Good enough.
Monday, March 23, 2009
3/23/09
What I'm about to tell you was originally going to be a closely guarded secret. I don't have a favorite fishing hole or a lucky slot machine to guard, so I was inclined to make sure that I didn't spill the beans on this little gem. I had an attack of conscience though, so here you go. Flying J has Jack Link's chicken fajita tender strips for $2.99 a bag. The public has a right to know. Who says economic recessions are all bad? Those suckers were $6.99 last year.
That discovery was made after I hung around the consignee for a while and then decided to head over and use the restroom, drop off my Trip Pak, grab some grub, shower, and so forth. I was on the board in Salt Lake City until this afternoon, when I received an assignment to pick up tomorrow in Idaho and head for El Paso. In a nice twist, going north brought warmer weather and going into the mountains brought an end to the snow. Beauty.
Home for the night is yet another Flying J, this time in Twin Falls. I have to pick up at 2pm tomorrow, around ten miles from here. The bulk of this trip looks like it will take me down some U.S. highways so hopefully there won't be more snow in my immediate future. The load instructions indicate that it will be a heavy mofo. The mountains will be enough of a pain in the ass without my having to deal with slick spots.
I'll deliver in El Paso on Thursday morning, meaning that this week will be off to one of the slower starts that I've had lately. Today's deadhead was 225 miles and the loaded run is a little over 1,100. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will still hold the possibility for a decent week though, so we won't get too far ahead of ourselves.
That discovery was made after I hung around the consignee for a while and then decided to head over and use the restroom, drop off my Trip Pak, grab some grub, shower, and so forth. I was on the board in Salt Lake City until this afternoon, when I received an assignment to pick up tomorrow in Idaho and head for El Paso. In a nice twist, going north brought warmer weather and going into the mountains brought an end to the snow. Beauty.
Home for the night is yet another Flying J, this time in Twin Falls. I have to pick up at 2pm tomorrow, around ten miles from here. The bulk of this trip looks like it will take me down some U.S. highways so hopefully there won't be more snow in my immediate future. The load instructions indicate that it will be a heavy mofo. The mountains will be enough of a pain in the ass without my having to deal with slick spots.
I'll deliver in El Paso on Thursday morning, meaning that this week will be off to one of the slower starts that I've had lately. Today's deadhead was 225 miles and the loaded run is a little over 1,100. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will still hold the possibility for a decent week though, so we won't get too far ahead of ourselves.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
3/22/09
Since we're now in the age where some kind of harebrained law gets passed every few days, I have an idea. There ought to be a law stating that it is illegal for a sixty degree sunny day and a fairly heavy snowstorm to exist within ten minutes of each other. We may have to knock down a few mountains in order to ensure compliance, but hey, it's all about compromise.
I was rolling along and having a fairly enjoyable afternoon when I got into the hills outside Evanston. Holy jeez. It started snowing like a mutha. I looked down at my temperature readout and saw 34 degrees where the 60 had been, quite literally, ten minutes earlier. The road was still warm enough from the last few days that the snow was melting on contact but damn, it was like a whiteout there for a little bit.
The next blast of snow didn't come along until I was on the dive down into Salt Lake City. There were a few people coming down at 35mph and others whipping down at 70mph, so it was like playing dodge 'em cars for me as I tried to maintain a safe and reasonable pace. But hey, that's what truck drivers do, or something.
You know, while I've got those 535 degenerates listening, here's another law for them to pass. If a town's truck stops are all full, then truck parking should be allowed on any street with enough space. To borrow some internet jargon from yesterday - WTF? Flying J. Filled and overflowing. Sapp Brothers. Filled and overflowing. Pilot. Filled and overflowing. Other Flying J. Filled and overflowing. WTF? They set their clocks funny out here, so it was only 7pm. This is ridiculous.
So there I found myself, with no knowledge of the local streets and no bright ideas. Time for a little rudderless cruising. One general rule - if I see a big truck driving on a street, then that street is worth checking out. It took some cruising for a little while, mainly since every warehouse with a 'for lease' sign appeared to be occupied in some manner. Eventually I found a little side street in an industrial area back over by the Sapp Brothers (which was still overflowing when I cruised through for a second time). There are no signs saying that I can't park here and there are a couple of trailers dropped on the next block. Screw it. Good enough.
I think I have a pretty good idea of where I'm heading in the morning. The numbering system for the streets in this Godforsaken city leaves something to be desired. They seem to count in one direction on one side of the freeway and another direction on the other side, with a bunch of N,S,E, and W nonsense mixed in. The directions on my Qualcomm are fairly vague and ambiguous. Luckily for me, Mr. Gore was kind enough to invent the internet quite some time ago and I was able to take a good look at the aerial layout of the region. I'm at least somewhat confident that I know where to go. As I'm prone to say... time will tell.
I was rolling along and having a fairly enjoyable afternoon when I got into the hills outside Evanston. Holy jeez. It started snowing like a mutha. I looked down at my temperature readout and saw 34 degrees where the 60 had been, quite literally, ten minutes earlier. The road was still warm enough from the last few days that the snow was melting on contact but damn, it was like a whiteout there for a little bit.
The next blast of snow didn't come along until I was on the dive down into Salt Lake City. There were a few people coming down at 35mph and others whipping down at 70mph, so it was like playing dodge 'em cars for me as I tried to maintain a safe and reasonable pace. But hey, that's what truck drivers do, or something.
You know, while I've got those 535 degenerates listening, here's another law for them to pass. If a town's truck stops are all full, then truck parking should be allowed on any street with enough space. To borrow some internet jargon from yesterday - WTF? Flying J. Filled and overflowing. Sapp Brothers. Filled and overflowing. Pilot. Filled and overflowing. Other Flying J. Filled and overflowing. WTF? They set their clocks funny out here, so it was only 7pm. This is ridiculous.
So there I found myself, with no knowledge of the local streets and no bright ideas. Time for a little rudderless cruising. One general rule - if I see a big truck driving on a street, then that street is worth checking out. It took some cruising for a little while, mainly since every warehouse with a 'for lease' sign appeared to be occupied in some manner. Eventually I found a little side street in an industrial area back over by the Sapp Brothers (which was still overflowing when I cruised through for a second time). There are no signs saying that I can't park here and there are a couple of trailers dropped on the next block. Screw it. Good enough.
I think I have a pretty good idea of where I'm heading in the morning. The numbering system for the streets in this Godforsaken city leaves something to be desired. They seem to count in one direction on one side of the freeway and another direction on the other side, with a bunch of N,S,E, and W nonsense mixed in. The directions on my Qualcomm are fairly vague and ambiguous. Luckily for me, Mr. Gore was kind enough to invent the internet quite some time ago and I was able to take a good look at the aerial layout of the region. I'm at least somewhat confident that I know where to go. As I'm prone to say... time will tell.
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