That's cold blooded, man.
Nah, good old Con-way Truckload didn't walk away from me just yet. They did ignore me for two and a half days, but eventually we all knew they would have to come around. At 6pm tonight, I finally got some work. It wasn't anything good, mind you, but at least I got out of that McDonald's parking lot. And I'll have some layover pay coming or whatever.
I was given a deadhead to Temple for a load picking up tomorrow morning and going to Waco. 96 empty miles plus 33 loaded miles. It's not my role to tell people how to run their business, but this is still a free country and I do have a thought on the matter - If you want to run a regional fleet, then it might be a good idea to have enough regional drivers to handle your horseshit runs. I'll give it one more day and then, if I'm still stuck in this black hole, I'm requesting home time. If they want me in Joplin or Laredo for tires, then they can figure out how to get me there. If not, I'll run these tires until the tread gets to the limit and then they'll have to authorize me to stop wherever I am at the time. Fuck it. I'm not going to spend another three or four days plugging holes for an inadequate regional fleet.
When you're agitated in the first place, a drive up Satan's Driveway is probably a fitting conclusion to your weekend. Dry roads, light traffic, no construction, no accidents... dead stop in Austin. No reason for it. Just because. Then onto the northern suburbs. Two douchebag grain haulers going 55mph in the center lane (65mph zone), every grandmother in Texas going 50mph in the right lane, and no trucks allowed in the wide open left lane. That's nice.
I did wind up the night on a good note though, as I managed to snag one of the two open parking spaces at the truck stop in Temple. Another guy rolled in a couple of minutes after me and took the other one. Several trucks have rolled through since then. None of them have found anywhere to park. If my assignment had come through ten minutes later I might really have been pissed.
My pickup is scheduled for 8am tomorrow, right down the street from here. I guess there's a chance that something will be in the works to get me out of this Texas loop after I make my drop in Waco. Probably not, but maybe. Given the shitty paycheck that I'll have coming next Friday, I would prefer to grab another couple of runs before heading home. One more short Texas run, however, and I'll be forced to pull the trigger. My patience only goes so far.
very useful read. I would love to follow you on twitter.
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