1/22/10

I'm not entirely sure why I've always been under the impression that Vermont was such a goofball state. Maybe it was Howard Dean or something. Ben and Jerry perhaps? I don't know. In the town of Brattleboro, they have a split speed limit. Don't want trucks barreling through at 65mph like everyone else, right? Well, not exactly. The speed limit for cars is 30mph. For trucks, the speed limit is 25mph. Now that's just stupid. Maybe I've been right all along. Or maybe those people just need to elect a Notre Dame man to get things straightened out for the motorists.

I got to the shipper in Manchester this morning at 7:20am, ahead of my 8am appointment. 7:20am equals 7:15am in the world of the log book, so the drive over there had consumed 45 minutes of my available time under the 70 hour rule. Minutiae like this really shouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but on days like today it all adds up.

I was loaded with various pieces of furniture and equipment that are being sent from a closing factory to one that is still operating. Much to my relief, the total weight came to just under 7,000 pounds. This made today's drive much more enjoyable. I crossed over on NH-101 to NH-9, then continued through Vermont on VT-9. "Goin' o'er the Hog Back," as one of the guys at the shipper put it. Mountains and curves and all of that jazz. With sunny skies, dry roads, and a light load, it was a pretty nice ride.

The pace was pretty slow through quite a few areas though. That 25mph part in Brattleboro wasn't really a big deal, as it only lasted a few miles, but there weren't any straight stretches of road so I had to mind my P's and Q's going in and out of the curves. Knowing that there were zero parking options until I hit the freeway in New York, I was checking the clock on a regular basis to try and gauge my progress.

In the end, I had no problem reaching the Thruway before my hours ran out. In fact, once I got to the first service plaza I saw a sign saying that the next one was 44 miles away. I had 45 minutes left with which to work, so I was able to press on a little further. Every last minute came in handy, once all was said and done. Now I'm set up nicely for the weekend.

I got another message today, telling me that my truck is due for an annual inspection. I knew this, of course, but I guess they have to stay on top of things until all of the trucks are good to go. I let my fleet manager know that my schedule hasn't been very workable this week, but that I'll have a chance to take care of it tomorrow. As far as I know this should be fine. Not much I can do about it today in any case, given that I am completely out of hours. The cold weather has caused a little crack in the corner of my windshield to start migrating in various directions, so I'll probably be forced to get that fixed, but I was going to have to do that anyway. It's not in my field of view yet, so I was hoping to wait until this trip is finished. We'll see what the inspector dude says tomorrow.