There are drivers, at my company and every other company, who give 100% to their jobs and try to make their companies the best that they can be. I'm not one of those drivers. I really don't care much about anything and my job is just a job to me. That being said, I do make sure to always pick up and deliver, on time and safely. So, in an effort to do my job properly, I decided to act like an adult last night. I went out and had some dinner, then came home to get a good night of rest before this morning's run up to Brighton. I didn't stay out drinking all night, much as I would have liked to. I didn't spend the night trying to find a piece of ass, much as I would have liked to. I watched the last part of the ballgame at home and I was in bed at a decent hour. And then... I slept through my alarm this morning. Son of a bitch.
When I woke up and saw that it was after 10am, I grabbed my duffel bag and rushed out the door. I turned on my phone and saw that I had two messages. One was from my fleet manager and another was from someone at the Taylor terminal. So, I called my fleet manager to receive my necessary scolding. He was apparently indisposed at the time, but the guy with whom I spoke said that he was letting my fleet manager know that I was on the way to Brighton. A few minutes later, in my truck, I got a message saying I need to call my fleet manager ASAP. I just called a minute ago. Whatever, might as well call again and face the music since it was my fault I was late. Where is my phone? Shit. I must have left it in my car as I was rushing to get in my truck and go.
About halfway to Brighton, I got a message from the Taylor terminal saying that my delivery was set for 5pm. The customer is a little Mom & Pop delivery place, so they must have had to go out and do their thing before I got there at 12:30pm. I had to hang out and wait until 5pm for them to get back, but like I said, it was my fault so no use complaining. As I sat in the parking lot and tried to get my shit together, I got a plan summary for my next load. It was to be picked up in Howell, Michigan at 4am and taken to Ironton, Ohio by 11am. 4am pickups usually mean either beer or ConWay freight and neither one has much wiggle room on the delivery times. I was hoping for something allowing enough time to stop by Taylor and grab my phone and a couple of other things that I left behind. That timeline didn't look like it would work. 335 miles in seven hours of Michigan and Ohio is fairly tight, so adding the extra 20 or 30 miles to swing by the terminal would be ill-advised.
I wanted to take a nap while I waited but, without my cell phone, I had no alarm clock. I had to actually learn to work the alarm on my truck. It turned out to be pretty simple, so now I know how to do that too. I walked over to a little restaurant for some lunch and then laid down for a while.
The guys pulled their boxes off my trailer by hand, but it only took a half hour or so. Then it was only about fifteen miles to the next pickup. I stopped to clean out my trailer (yeah it's a beer load) and then checked in. They gave me a door and said that the load was staged, so I should get loaded some time tonight. Not too long ago, they started putting kegs on board, so it's looking like I might be able to pull off my stop by the terminal after all.
In almost a year and a half, this was the first time a late delivery was my fault. As I said before, I'm not the most conscientious employee in the world but it sucks just the same. Whatever shortcomings I may have, I could always point to the fact that I'm never late and I never hit anything. Now I have a mark against that record, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it now. Shit happens and life moves along.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
10/16/07
So... that dock this morning turned out to be no trouble at all. By the time they were ready for me, the bedbuggers had all moved on out and I had plenty of room to work. I did have to pull into the lot across the street, but I didn't encounter any traffic.
That was the part that I thought would be difficult, and it turned out to be easy. Driving into the terminal was the part that I thought would be easy. Think again.
Eureka Road has been under construction, of and on, for what seems like several years now. For a while, we couldn't make the left from the I-75 ramp and head toward our terminal. My last few times home, the left has been okay and I've had no issues. Today it was closed. No problem.
Since Racho Road (on which the terminal sits) is restricted to trucks, the only legal approach is from the north. I.e. from Eureka. So, the best thing would be to use the U-turn lane and come back up Eureka to Racho. Well, there were orange barrels taking away one of the lanes on Eureka and the day cab guy that I saw ahead of me... hit one of the barrels. That was enough to convince me that the U-turn didn't look like a good option. No problem.
I could make a left on Allen, then a left on Northline, then a left on Racho and run straight across Eureka and into the terminal from the north. No tight turns, no restricted routes, no bridges, all good. Yeah, no. I got onto Racho and saw that the left lane was closed. The right lane was a little tight, but no tighter than any urban construction zone on the freeway. Halfway down, there was a sign saying that Racho was closed at Eureka. Well shit, that didn't sound too cool. There was nowhere for me to turn around, so all I could do was drive along and hope they left me an out. They were routing the traffic onto the access road behind the mall. No problem.
Houston, we have a problem. The turn was crazy tight. I could make it with my truck but the trailer was another story altogether. I moved the barrels that were closest to the turn and got as far along as I could, then got out to take another look. Oh boy, this was a doozy. There was already a line of cars down Racho behind me and another lining the access road in front of me. Fuck 'em. They weren't going anywhere until I figured my way out of that mess. The only trouble was that the track my trailer tires would have to follow... wasn't there.
The road had been cut and the right trailer tires would have to go into a trough that was pretty damn deep. I concluded that this would be my best bet. It wasn't deep enough to drop the axle below the edge, and I had no weight at all in the rear of the trailer, so I hoped to be able to drag it up and over once it went into the cut out. The left tandems hadroom to stay on the road, so I felt pretty good about my prospects. And down they go... slowly... slowly. And now up the other side... I said up the other side... Come on now, up the other side... The trailer being cocked to the right was taking the pressure off of my left side drive tires, so I tried locking in the differential and gave it another tug. And away we go! Beauty. I don't mind telling you - that was some stressful shit right there. No harm, no foul though. No damage, a few people inconvenienced, but not too terribly, and I got back to the yard.
I guess sometimes it can be harmful to have knowledge of the local routes. If I weren't from around here, I would have probably driven all the way down to Southgate before I saw a big parking lot, and then turned around to head back up Eureka to Taylor. Such is life.
Laundry is done, so now it's a question of how to spend the next few hours. I am struggling with that decision, but I'm down to three choices:
1) Volunteer at a homeless shelter.
2) Write a thesis regarding the world's shifting demographics and the impact they will have on the long-established macroeconomic paradigms upon which modern governments are based.
3) Go to the Wheat & Rye with some friends for beer and baseball.
I'll wrestle with this decision for a while, I'm sure. Tune in tomorrow to see how it all ends!
That was the part that I thought would be difficult, and it turned out to be easy. Driving into the terminal was the part that I thought would be easy. Think again.
Eureka Road has been under construction, of and on, for what seems like several years now. For a while, we couldn't make the left from the I-75 ramp and head toward our terminal. My last few times home, the left has been okay and I've had no issues. Today it was closed. No problem.
Since Racho Road (on which the terminal sits) is restricted to trucks, the only legal approach is from the north. I.e. from Eureka. So, the best thing would be to use the U-turn lane and come back up Eureka to Racho. Well, there were orange barrels taking away one of the lanes on Eureka and the day cab guy that I saw ahead of me... hit one of the barrels. That was enough to convince me that the U-turn didn't look like a good option. No problem.
I could make a left on Allen, then a left on Northline, then a left on Racho and run straight across Eureka and into the terminal from the north. No tight turns, no restricted routes, no bridges, all good. Yeah, no. I got onto Racho and saw that the left lane was closed. The right lane was a little tight, but no tighter than any urban construction zone on the freeway. Halfway down, there was a sign saying that Racho was closed at Eureka. Well shit, that didn't sound too cool. There was nowhere for me to turn around, so all I could do was drive along and hope they left me an out. They were routing the traffic onto the access road behind the mall. No problem.
Houston, we have a problem. The turn was crazy tight. I could make it with my truck but the trailer was another story altogether. I moved the barrels that were closest to the turn and got as far along as I could, then got out to take another look. Oh boy, this was a doozy. There was already a line of cars down Racho behind me and another lining the access road in front of me. Fuck 'em. They weren't going anywhere until I figured my way out of that mess. The only trouble was that the track my trailer tires would have to follow... wasn't there.
The road had been cut and the right trailer tires would have to go into a trough that was pretty damn deep. I concluded that this would be my best bet. It wasn't deep enough to drop the axle below the edge, and I had no weight at all in the rear of the trailer, so I hoped to be able to drag it up and over once it went into the cut out. The left tandems hadroom to stay on the road, so I felt pretty good about my prospects. And down they go... slowly... slowly. And now up the other side... I said up the other side... Come on now, up the other side... The trailer being cocked to the right was taking the pressure off of my left side drive tires, so I tried locking in the differential and gave it another tug. And away we go! Beauty. I don't mind telling you - that was some stressful shit right there. No harm, no foul though. No damage, a few people inconvenienced, but not too terribly, and I got back to the yard.
I guess sometimes it can be harmful to have knowledge of the local routes. If I weren't from around here, I would have probably driven all the way down to Southgate before I saw a big parking lot, and then turned around to head back up Eureka to Taylor. Such is life.
Laundry is done, so now it's a question of how to spend the next few hours. I am struggling with that decision, but I'm down to three choices:
1) Volunteer at a homeless shelter.
2) Write a thesis regarding the world's shifting demographics and the impact they will have on the long-established macroeconomic paradigms upon which modern governments are based.
3) Go to the Wheat & Rye with some friends for beer and baseball.
I'll wrestle with this decision for a while, I'm sure. Tune in tomorrow to see how it all ends!
Monday, October 15, 2007
10/15/07
Well, in a perfect world I'd be sitting at the pub with a pint in my fist, watching the ballgame right now. In the real world though, the customer was all locked up by the time I got here this evening. I'll have to make the scheduled drop tomorrow morning and then head home.
The guys at the place in Nashville woke me up this morning and got to work right away. From there it was a pretty easy ride up to Ohio, although I got tired and had to take a nap for a few hours halfway here. Without the nap, who knows? Maybe I get here early enough to get right of the freight today, although I doubt it. From the look of the way the trailer is loaded, they probably don't want anything to do with it until the scheduled time comes around. No big deal really. The biggest positive about getting home tonight would have been that I could get a restart before I drop in Brighton on Wednesday. As it stands, I'll just accumulate some hours from the three or four easy days in a row.
Coming through Cincinnati, right at rush hour, there was hardly any traffic at all. Pretty cool. Then, once I got out to the suburbs, the brake lights started. I broke north from exit 28 and ran US-42 all the way across. I've seen enough of the interstate lately and my patience for traffic was wearing thin. That was a stretch of road I don't remember running before, so I figured what the hell. It was a pretty mellow ride up here.
I got out and took a look through the locked gate at the dock I'll have to use tomorrow morning. I'm not entirely sure how that's going to work, but it looks like I'll have to pull into the lot across the street and then back into the lot, around the corner and back to the door. That and wrestling with the load straps will be about the hardest parts of my day tomorrow. These newer trailers don't seem to fit the locking mechanism of the straps as well as the older trailers do. It's like the holes are about a sixteenth of an inch too small or something. I had to bang on the thing with a rubber mallet to get the strap loose this morning, then do the same to re-secure the load once the first batch of stuff was pulled from the trailer. As for the actual driving, it's only about 175 miles from here to Taylor so it will be an easy day.
I wrapped up the first pay period of the month with 6,293 miles plus some extra pay to kick the gross over $2,300. I'll probably see the extra $52.50 for this run on that check too, so somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,400 should be the number. The extra stop pay doesn't show on my account until I've made the last drop, but the last few times I've earned pay, after a pay period ended, for a run that started during the pay period, it has been on that check. Since I have to plan a wedding with that French-Canadian chick, I need every little bit I can get.
The guys at the place in Nashville woke me up this morning and got to work right away. From there it was a pretty easy ride up to Ohio, although I got tired and had to take a nap for a few hours halfway here. Without the nap, who knows? Maybe I get here early enough to get right of the freight today, although I doubt it. From the look of the way the trailer is loaded, they probably don't want anything to do with it until the scheduled time comes around. No big deal really. The biggest positive about getting home tonight would have been that I could get a restart before I drop in Brighton on Wednesday. As it stands, I'll just accumulate some hours from the three or four easy days in a row.
Coming through Cincinnati, right at rush hour, there was hardly any traffic at all. Pretty cool. Then, once I got out to the suburbs, the brake lights started. I broke north from exit 28 and ran US-42 all the way across. I've seen enough of the interstate lately and my patience for traffic was wearing thin. That was a stretch of road I don't remember running before, so I figured what the hell. It was a pretty mellow ride up here.
I got out and took a look through the locked gate at the dock I'll have to use tomorrow morning. I'm not entirely sure how that's going to work, but it looks like I'll have to pull into the lot across the street and then back into the lot, around the corner and back to the door. That and wrestling with the load straps will be about the hardest parts of my day tomorrow. These newer trailers don't seem to fit the locking mechanism of the straps as well as the older trailers do. It's like the holes are about a sixteenth of an inch too small or something. I had to bang on the thing with a rubber mallet to get the strap loose this morning, then do the same to re-secure the load once the first batch of stuff was pulled from the trailer. As for the actual driving, it's only about 175 miles from here to Taylor so it will be an easy day.
I wrapped up the first pay period of the month with 6,293 miles plus some extra pay to kick the gross over $2,300. I'll probably see the extra $52.50 for this run on that check too, so somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,400 should be the number. The extra stop pay doesn't show on my account until I've made the last drop, but the last few times I've earned pay, after a pay period ended, for a run that started during the pay period, it has been on that check. Since I have to plan a wedding with that French-Canadian chick, I need every little bit I can get.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
10/14/07
So old Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. Ain't that special? It did get me thinking though... I could probably have a shot at a future award if I took up the cause of getting regular iced tea into every retail establishment south of the Mason-Dixon line. It would be quite a crusade, but I'm sick and tired of that brown-colored sugar water you people drink down here.
I had a pretty lazy day today. I woke up with a headache, then killed some time watching football. After the 'Skins gave away another game, I got my act together and headed for Nashville. I checked Google Earth and live.com before I left. It looked pretty good in terms of having room to park at the customer tonight, so I headed straight through. There was a convenient spot along the bulding when I got here, so I'll get some sleep and be ready to rock in the morning. The docks face the street, but there appears to be a whole bunch of room on either side of the street, with no curbs, so my job should be easy in the morning.
From here I'll head to Columbus. From looking at the aforementioned aerial photography providers, I'm pretty sure I'll have room to set up shop at that customer as well. I'm due there by 10am Tuesday, but I'm going to try and pull off a little switcheroo. If I can get to Columbus during business hours tomorrow, there's an outside chance they'll go ahead and unload me. Probably not, but I'm going to try. If that happens, I can head from there to Taylor and take a day off Tuesday before delivering in Brighton on Wednesday. My focus level has been sorely lacking for the last few days, so a day at home might do me some good. It seems like I've been on autopilot lately and that's not the best thing when you're barreling down the highway.
I was scanning the XM channels tonight and I came across a show that blew my mind - Gun Talk. Make no mistake about it. I'm a decent marksman myself and I think more guns, rather than fewer, would make us safer as a people. I just can't believe that people actually call in to a radio show in order to discuss their guns. What's next? A show about organic vegetable garening? Oh, too late, nevermind.
I had a pretty lazy day today. I woke up with a headache, then killed some time watching football. After the 'Skins gave away another game, I got my act together and headed for Nashville. I checked Google Earth and live.com before I left. It looked pretty good in terms of having room to park at the customer tonight, so I headed straight through. There was a convenient spot along the bulding when I got here, so I'll get some sleep and be ready to rock in the morning. The docks face the street, but there appears to be a whole bunch of room on either side of the street, with no curbs, so my job should be easy in the morning.
From here I'll head to Columbus. From looking at the aforementioned aerial photography providers, I'm pretty sure I'll have room to set up shop at that customer as well. I'm due there by 10am Tuesday, but I'm going to try and pull off a little switcheroo. If I can get to Columbus during business hours tomorrow, there's an outside chance they'll go ahead and unload me. Probably not, but I'm going to try. If that happens, I can head from there to Taylor and take a day off Tuesday before delivering in Brighton on Wednesday. My focus level has been sorely lacking for the last few days, so a day at home might do me some good. It seems like I've been on autopilot lately and that's not the best thing when you're barreling down the highway.
I was scanning the XM channels tonight and I came across a show that blew my mind - Gun Talk. Make no mistake about it. I'm a decent marksman myself and I think more guns, rather than fewer, would make us safer as a people. I just can't believe that people actually call in to a radio show in order to discuss their guns. What's next? A show about organic vegetable garening? Oh, too late, nevermind.
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