6/3/10

Aside from the fact that there's a douchebag idling his truck next to me (with his windows down, go figure), disrupting the serenity of a lovely Vermont evening, I'd have to say that today was just about ideal.  Good weather, afternoon baseball on the radio, and none of the usual issues arose on this trip into New England.

Traffic can be a problem in this part of the country.  Today's traffic was moderate to light.  Construction can be another concern.  The only major construction zone today was on I-84 in Pennsylvania.  The road was down to one lane for a looong stretch, but there was no logjam at the merging point, so everyone just had to take things slowly for a while.  Parking tends to be another unknown.  I found a little truck stop with plenty of parking spaces, somewhere around 50 miles from tomorrow morning's consignee. Then we have the Vermont routing issue to address.  Some roads are okay in this state and others require a special permit.  I had a frame of reference from a previous trip though, so I just took the same route up past Glens Falls and across through Whitehall today.  No worries.

The last thing that can be an issue up here is deciding where to go once I get unloaded in the morning.  You get the same routing and parking concerns as before, in addition to the fact that there are no truck stops near the consignee and I don't know which way I'll have to go for the next pickup.  This is where a pre-plan becomes more than just a convenience.  It becomes pretty important.  Fortunately, I received a nice long pre-plan for the weekend as I rolled through Pennsylvania this afternoon.  Unfortunately, I couldn't accept it.  I'm no cartographer, but I've been led to believe that Quebec is a province in Canada.  Furthermore, I'm of the understanding that Canada is like a whole other country or something.  Even though I took my chance and opted out of Canada loads a few years back when the choice was presented to me, I wouldn't be averse to heading up there once in a while when the company really needed me to do so.  I can't though.  For reasons that still are not entirely clear to me, a passport is required in order to cross the Canadian border these days.

I was rolling down the highway and not in the position to have a satellite message exchange at the time, so I reached over and hit the 'N' button on the keyboard.  As in 'No' I can't accept the assignment.  A few minutes later I got a note explaining that it didn't have to pick up until tomorrow afternoon, and asking why I wouldn't be able to cover the load.  I don't know exactly what sort of computer display they look at down there in Joplin, but I was under the impression that they were supposed to be aware of my no-Canada status.  For instance, the dispatcher in Laredo once said to me, "Okay, you don't go to Canada.  Let's see..."  Perhaps today's assignment was just an oversight.  I don't know.  I arrived at my fuel stop a short time later and sent a quick note - No Passport.  And then the load was unassigned.

Once I got onto NY-149 and started across toward Vermont, I received a new assignment for the weekend. If you can't go to Canada, then I suppose you might as well get as close as possible.  I'll be picking up in Champlain, New York.  Due to another handy bit of knowledge from that prior trip up here, I know exactly how I can get to Champlain without any legal concerns.  Good deal.

Now, if only we could do away with these 7am deliveries...  Oh well, early morning tomorrow.