3/18/10

Think you've seen it all?  Think again.  There's some kind of Washington, D.C. reference to be made here, but I'm not feeling witty tonight.  In the context of today, oddly enough, Washington proved to be nothing more than a minor nuisance.

I got to the consignee at 11:45am, ahead of my 1pm appointment.  The security guard was kind enough to sign me in and direct me to a parking space, but he said that we're not supposed to arrive more than a half hour early.  Okay then.  Good to know.  I was told to check in with the receiving office at 12:45pm so I had an hour to kill.  During that hour, each driver who arrived after me walked into the receiving office.  None of them walked back out to their trucks though, so I just followed my instructions and waited until 12:45pm.  I suspected that they were all standing around and waiting for the receiving people to start the afternoon shift.  Might as well relax in the comfort of my truck if that's the case.

Once I walked inside, I found that the other drivers were in fact standing in line and waiting to check in.  From my position at the back of the line, it took fifteen minutes to reach the window.  Still a favorable trade-off for the hour of sitting in my truck, as far as I'm concerned.  I had to hire a lumper to unload the freight, so there were some procedural steps to take, but otherwise the unloading was quick and easy.

On my way out of Virginia this morning I had received a pre-planned assignment, so I knew that I would be heading to Baltimore once I was empty.  Another of our drivers, it turns out, had received the same pre-plan.  Once our directions arrived via satellite, he asked if I had been to the shipper before.  In point of fact, yes, I had been there once.  So he said that he was going to follow me since he doesn't know his way around the area very well.  I said that this was probably a good idea, since the directions were pretty weird anyway.  Then, as I sat on my bunk double-checking a Google map to confirm that I was thinking of the right place, my colleague took off on his own.  Whatevs.

It was a quick hop up I-95 and through the tunnel.  I swung off the exit and found that I had caught up to my CTL coworker.  We needed to take a left at the end of the exit ramp.  He took a left.  So far, so good.  Then, where the directions said to go straight to the customer 1/4 mile on the right, we actually needed to take another left.  He started to go straight, but got stopped at a red light.  I got into the left turn lane next to him and motioned for him to follow me.  It was a protected (green arrow) left turn and I had stopped far enough back to keep anyone else from getting into the turning lane, so he was able to swing in behind me as I made the turn.  The little side street where that turn took us wouldn't look like a truck route to anyone but, like I said, I had been there once before.  The street wound around another corner and then it was time to proceed 1/4 mile to the customer on the right.  "I'm sure glad you caught up to me.  I never would have found this place," said he, as we walked into the shipping office.  Yeah, tell me about it.  I learned the hard way.

We were loaded quickly and released onto I-95 right at 4:30pm.  That's always a treat.  Heavy traffic and construction.  Good stuff.  Then I-695.  More of the same.  I-83.  Ditto.  Just a long hassle of a day, once all was said and done. 

Unlike on the previous occasion, I wasn't dropping this load off in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.  Rather I'll be taking it to the consignee in Cortland, New York for an 8am delivery tomorrow.  I had enough hours to reach the consignee tonight, but the parking situation up there might be a little sketchy.  I've picked up drop/hook loads at the same customer before, so I suppose there's a chance that this delivery may also be a drop/hook.  (Stop summary says it's a live unload.)  Even if I could deliver early though, the drop lot isn't roomy enough for me to spend the night.  And the little truck stop down the street from the customer wouldn't be very likely to have a spot for me at 10pm on a weekday.  On a different occasion I may have decided to give it a go and let the chips fall where they may.  I'm out of patience today though, so Harford, Pennsylvania will have to do.

I'll have to hit the road as soon as my ten hour break is over in order to reach Cortland before 8am.  Boo!  Alarm clock.  Boo!  After my delivery, the smart money would be on making a run from the same location to the Menlo place in New Jersey.  Did it once.  Did it twice.  Each of those two previous trips was on a Tuesday though, so we'll see.  Things are usually a little different once we approach the weekend.

The upshot from today was that I got a little over 300 miles, all with the northeast premium tacked on.  Could be worse, could be better.  Any kind of  decent Friday and Saturday will have this week looking just fine. 

In a perfect world I would get some kind of assignment passing close to home.  I signed up for a Chase checking account recently.  I deposited $100 to open the account and they gave me $100 today.  Nothing comes without strings, of course, but this deal seems pretty fair.  No fees as long as I use the debit card five times a month (otherwise $6/month)  and I have to keep the account open for at least six months.  I make numerous debit transactions every day, so no problem there. One catch though - the new debit card is probably sitting on my kitchen table, along with the rest of my mail.  I'm not sure I want to go home right now, so we'll just leave it in the hands of fate.  If I don't pass through Michigan soon, I may have to pay one or two $6 fees before I get my hands on the debit card.  In exchange for $100, I'll still consider it a good deal.