I'm not even sure how to describe today. I guess bizarre would be pretty accurate.
First things first... rain, and lots of it. I believe that the proper phrase is "much needed rain" here on the east coast. Surprisingly enough, it didn't snarl the traffic too badly. I got around DC with the only backup being on the south side in the construction zone by the drawbridge. The rest of the trip down to Greensboro was pretty decent. There were several accidents along the way, but they were on the opposite side so the only slowdowns I encountered were due to gawkers.
I stopped in at the T/A in Ashland to get my trailer light replaced. Then, the folks at CFI did what they don't do well. They started thinking. I did what I was taught to do and sent the 'going to shop' message to advise them that I was getting the work done. Almost immediately, I got a message saying I was unassigned from the load picking up in Raleigh today. I sent a message explaining that I would only be in the shop for a half hour and my timetable wouldn't be affected, as far as getting that load up to Illinois by tomorrow. My fleet manager responded that I was taken off the load because I couldn't pick up on time, and that he would find me something else.
Think this through with me for a minute; My plan summary for the Raleigh load said it picked up at 10:30am and delivered tomorrow at 11:30am. I was dispatched to be in Greensboro at 1:17pm, but the earliest I could have legally arrived would have been around 11:30am. Then, when you add the drop/hook (more on that later) and the drive over to Raleigh, we're talking 1pm at the earliest anyway. I was never going to make the 10:30am pickup whether or not I stopped. The only customer in Raleigh, that I know of, is a drop/hook customer so it doesn't matter when we arrive. I assumed that was why I was given the load in the first place, knowing I wouldn't be there at 10:30. So, if I just stopped for breakfast nobody would have said a thing. But, I send in the shop message and I lose the load.
At that point I lost my motivation to hustle the thing down to Greensboro quickly and stopped for a long lunch instead. I took enough time to convince myself that the world was out to get me and all that nonsense, then got back on the road.
I got to the KMart DC in Greensboro and saw several CFI bobtails parked in the area. That's not a good sign. They told me where to drop the loaded trailer. Of course that spot was occupied. It's pretty rare that the assigned spot is actually available. Then I headed over to the traffic office, where I was told they would show me which empty to take. Yeah, no. No empties today. I asked how long until they would have one and the lady informed me that they were working to free up enough empties for today's outgoing freight, then they needed to round up enough for tomorrow's outgoing freight, then they might have an empty available at some point tomorrow. Great.
I received a message from one of the planners while I was talking to that lady. The planner said they saw that I missed out on the Raleigh load so they gave me the next thing they had available in the area - a load picking up in Granite Falls tomorrow morning and going to Laredo. Well I'll be damned. My fleet manager actually went to the planners and got something for me like he said he would. Good lookin' out, my brother. I guess it sucks for the other people who sat waiting for an assignment before I showed up. However, since I never complain and ask for favors, I'm not going to feel guilty about it. Of course the catch was that I didn't have an empty and wouldn't have one any time soon, so I had to call and see what they wanted me to do. It turned out that we had an empty sitting at a trailer shop right along my route to Granite Falls so I stopped by and picked up that one.
My miles as of this moment are a little over 3,400 for the pay period and the 1,407 to Laredo will hit tomorrow. I'll get to Laredo on Saturday, which sucks pretty badly, but hopefully I can get out before the weekend is up and rack up a few more good days before the end of the month. I haven't been to Laredo in quite some time (and that's how I like it), but weekends down there usually involve some sitting. The fact that I couldn't catch that reset in Michigan last week is also going to bite me in the ass over the next day or two. I'll come up with something, but it's going to be tight making the planned time to Laredo. Leave it to the feds... the fact that I worked for two hours one day, over a week ago, means I'm too tired to work a full day tomorrow. If I had taken that day off, rather than working the whopping two hours, I'd be well rested and able to run my ass off. Idiots.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
10/23/07
I even saw the lights of the Goodyear blimp, and it read "Big Joe's a pimp."...
That's right boys and girls, two kick-ass days in a row. If this keeps up I might actually have to say I have a good job.
I got beeped shortly after waking up, then got unassigned thirty seconds later. Then about twenty minutes after that the real assignment came in. I got to deadhead 184 miles to a little town I refer to as Paris on the Hudson - Jersey City. In all honesty, Jersey City is a pretty shitty place to drive a big truck. I'm a little crazy though. I get a kick out of New Jersey. It's kind of like a truck driving video game, only you lose your job if you hit anything.
The directions to the customer were confusing and ambiguous, which is par for the course in Jersey. You drive along, heading east, and you need to go south. So there should be a ramp on the right, right? Nah, turn left, go across and make another left, then a u-turn back in the direction you were originally going, then a big sweeping ramp to the right and a quick left. It's pretty cool.
There is more than one way to skin a cat, or so they say. When the cat-skinning is the drive from the New York Thruway to Jersey City, there are about a hundred ways. I don't know which one is the best, or even which ones are completely legal, but I made it in 191 miles without getting arrested so I guess I did okay. The docks at the customer were pretty damn tight. I was hoping to draw the one on the far right, as that would give me the easiest angle... and that's the one I got. Beauty. Was I loaded quickly? You bet. Heavy or light? Oh, 6,000 pounds should make for a pretty nice run through the hills.
No traffic rolling in to Jersey City, no traffic rolling out of Jersey City. Hell, even the toll booths in Delaware were moving through pretty smoothly. That never happens. Must be my day I guess. By the time I got through Baltimore without hitting any traffic, I assumed my luck was about to run out so I pulled into a rest area and called it a day. I don't imagine the nighttime traffic around DC would have been too bad, but finding a place to park in northern Virginia may have been a challenge tonight, so I decided not to push my luck. I was enjoying the ride so much that I drove right past the Petro where I planned to get my trailer light fixed, so it was probably just as well that I got off the road before it got completely dark. It's the clearance light on the front left corner at the top of the trailer. Most likely that's not the kind of thing that would get me pulled over, but why take the chance?
That would have been a good enough day for me, but on the way down I also got a pre-plan to pick up another load in North Carolina tomorrow and run it up to Illinois. That will basically use all of my available hours for the next two days, so it's nice to see some thinking ahead coming from the folks in Joplin for a change.
I did encounter one minor annoyance along the way, but it's really more amusing than aggravating. I pulled into the Pilot in Perryville for some fuel and food. There was one spot open at the fuel island... behind a JB Hunt truck. Maybe someone can help me here. Why in the hell does it take twice as long for those guys to leave the fuel island, compared with the drivers from any other company? I used to think that it was just a few isolated incidents, but I swear now that the damn JB drivers hang out for twenty minutes every time they get done fueling. Maybe they're looking for Senator Craig in the men's room. I don't know.
Anyhow, I think I'll watch a movie now and then get cracking bright and early tomorrow. It looks like I'll hit the beltway at the start of the morning rush, so here's hoping the good luck streak continues.
That's right boys and girls, two kick-ass days in a row. If this keeps up I might actually have to say I have a good job.
I got beeped shortly after waking up, then got unassigned thirty seconds later. Then about twenty minutes after that the real assignment came in. I got to deadhead 184 miles to a little town I refer to as Paris on the Hudson - Jersey City. In all honesty, Jersey City is a pretty shitty place to drive a big truck. I'm a little crazy though. I get a kick out of New Jersey. It's kind of like a truck driving video game, only you lose your job if you hit anything.
The directions to the customer were confusing and ambiguous, which is par for the course in Jersey. You drive along, heading east, and you need to go south. So there should be a ramp on the right, right? Nah, turn left, go across and make another left, then a u-turn back in the direction you were originally going, then a big sweeping ramp to the right and a quick left. It's pretty cool.
There is more than one way to skin a cat, or so they say. When the cat-skinning is the drive from the New York Thruway to Jersey City, there are about a hundred ways. I don't know which one is the best, or even which ones are completely legal, but I made it in 191 miles without getting arrested so I guess I did okay. The docks at the customer were pretty damn tight. I was hoping to draw the one on the far right, as that would give me the easiest angle... and that's the one I got. Beauty. Was I loaded quickly? You bet. Heavy or light? Oh, 6,000 pounds should make for a pretty nice run through the hills.
No traffic rolling in to Jersey City, no traffic rolling out of Jersey City. Hell, even the toll booths in Delaware were moving through pretty smoothly. That never happens. Must be my day I guess. By the time I got through Baltimore without hitting any traffic, I assumed my luck was about to run out so I pulled into a rest area and called it a day. I don't imagine the nighttime traffic around DC would have been too bad, but finding a place to park in northern Virginia may have been a challenge tonight, so I decided not to push my luck. I was enjoying the ride so much that I drove right past the Petro where I planned to get my trailer light fixed, so it was probably just as well that I got off the road before it got completely dark. It's the clearance light on the front left corner at the top of the trailer. Most likely that's not the kind of thing that would get me pulled over, but why take the chance?
That would have been a good enough day for me, but on the way down I also got a pre-plan to pick up another load in North Carolina tomorrow and run it up to Illinois. That will basically use all of my available hours for the next two days, so it's nice to see some thinking ahead coming from the folks in Joplin for a change.
I did encounter one minor annoyance along the way, but it's really more amusing than aggravating. I pulled into the Pilot in Perryville for some fuel and food. There was one spot open at the fuel island... behind a JB Hunt truck. Maybe someone can help me here. Why in the hell does it take twice as long for those guys to leave the fuel island, compared with the drivers from any other company? I used to think that it was just a few isolated incidents, but I swear now that the damn JB drivers hang out for twenty minutes every time they get done fueling. Maybe they're looking for Senator Craig in the men's room. I don't know.
Anyhow, I think I'll watch a movie now and then get cracking bright and early tomorrow. It looks like I'll hit the beltway at the start of the morning rush, so here's hoping the good luck streak continues.
Monday, October 22, 2007
10/22/07
Just wakin up in the mornin' gotta thank God... I don't know but today seemed kinda odd...
That's right Ice Cube fans. Today was a good day. (I didn't even have to use my AK.)
I woke up at the dock around 8:30am, vaguely recalling some kind of movement while I slept. As soon as I put some pants on (For your own good, don't picture that.) and hopped in the front seat, a guy came out to tell me I was loaded and ready to roll. The last load I pulled out of that place was over 40,000 pounds, so I was pleasantly surprised to see 15,000 pounds on the bill. Beauty.
The chickenheads in Joplin gave me yet another fairly tight dispatch for no particular reason. I was set to arrive in Amsterdam, New York at 7:51pm. Any time you see a time ending in a :51 or anything like that, somebody just pulled a drive time out of his ass and sent it through. Given the timing of my departure from Archbold, I got through Cleveland in the late part of the morning, then Buffalo before the afternoon rush. Traffic was nice and light on both counts. This meant that I was able to get some dinner and catch a half-hour power nap, while still delivering a little ahead of schedule. I guess the dispatch wasn't as tight as I expected it to be.
That drive across Upstate New York on the Thruway is one of the better drives I get to make, although someone needs to get Al Gore on the horn. The trees are still looking pretty green and we're almost through October. They need some carbon offsets up here - pronto.
After my drop/hook, The security guard pointed me to a little side street where I could park for the night. I backed down and got as far off the road as possible, but I'm still not in the best of spots. As a result, I left my parking lights on and I'll have to keep the truck running to support them. There is a T/A ten miles west of here, but I assume that it was at or near capacity by the time I got my empty. In theory I could be subject to an anti-idling ticket and a parking ticket, but the security guard was very convincing when he said that this spot would be fine.
I'm not sure which way I'll be headed tomorrow, but I do have enough hours for a day or two of good running before the crappy days start falling from my 70. I'll also have to stop and get one of the marker lights on this trailer fixed, since another driver was kind enough to leave it burned out for me. Dick.
Anyhow, I think I'll hit the sack now. My eyelids are starting to get pretty heavy. Cheers.
That's right Ice Cube fans. Today was a good day. (I didn't even have to use my AK.)
I woke up at the dock around 8:30am, vaguely recalling some kind of movement while I slept. As soon as I put some pants on (For your own good, don't picture that.) and hopped in the front seat, a guy came out to tell me I was loaded and ready to roll. The last load I pulled out of that place was over 40,000 pounds, so I was pleasantly surprised to see 15,000 pounds on the bill. Beauty.
The chickenheads in Joplin gave me yet another fairly tight dispatch for no particular reason. I was set to arrive in Amsterdam, New York at 7:51pm. Any time you see a time ending in a :51 or anything like that, somebody just pulled a drive time out of his ass and sent it through. Given the timing of my departure from Archbold, I got through Cleveland in the late part of the morning, then Buffalo before the afternoon rush. Traffic was nice and light on both counts. This meant that I was able to get some dinner and catch a half-hour power nap, while still delivering a little ahead of schedule. I guess the dispatch wasn't as tight as I expected it to be.
That drive across Upstate New York on the Thruway is one of the better drives I get to make, although someone needs to get Al Gore on the horn. The trees are still looking pretty green and we're almost through October. They need some carbon offsets up here - pronto.
After my drop/hook, The security guard pointed me to a little side street where I could park for the night. I backed down and got as far off the road as possible, but I'm still not in the best of spots. As a result, I left my parking lights on and I'll have to keep the truck running to support them. There is a T/A ten miles west of here, but I assume that it was at or near capacity by the time I got my empty. In theory I could be subject to an anti-idling ticket and a parking ticket, but the security guard was very convincing when he said that this spot would be fine.
I'm not sure which way I'll be headed tomorrow, but I do have enough hours for a day or two of good running before the crappy days start falling from my 70. I'll also have to stop and get one of the marker lights on this trailer fixed, since another driver was kind enough to leave it burned out for me. Dick.
Anyhow, I think I'll hit the sack now. My eyelids are starting to get pretty heavy. Cheers.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
10/21/07
Well, weekends are hit and miss with this company. Most lately have been a hit, but this one was a miss. I rolled into Maumee this morning around 8am and dropped my loaded trailer at the UPS facility. My mother had mentioned that she would drive down and meet me for lunch if I was staying in Toledo for the day. I assumed I would be hanging around for a while waiting for a dispatch, but I got one immediately after sending my empty call.
I was sent back to the Sauder furniture place in Archbold to pick up a load tomorrow morning. I weighed the options, but didn't really feel like driving back east to Stony Ridge. That would have been my best bet for meeting Mom for lunch, but it would have been fifteen miles in the wrong direction and then fifteen miles to get back where I started. I went west toward the customer instead and pulled into the little truck stop off the tollway at my exit. I called Mom and let her know that I wouldn't be in Toledo today, to which she offered to drive here and pick me up so I could spend the day at home. It was very thoughtful of her, but I told her it really wouldn't make any sense. A three hour roundtrip to get me this morning and then a three hour roundtrip to bring me back tomorrow morning, just so I could sit on my couch and watch football instead of laying in the bunk and watching football? Nah, there's no reason for that. I told her I'll be home in a few weeks and I'll catch up with her then.
I'll hang out here and watch Game 7 tonight (still pulling for the Tribe even though it makes me feel a little dirty), since I have a nice fast internet connection. Once the game is over, I'll have time to drive the last few miles to the customer and still get a ten hour break there before my appointment tomorrow morning. That's the 'miss' part of a hit and miss CFI weekend - 39 miles for today and a whole lot of down time. The week has been decent, all things considered. With the day wasted in Michigan and the day wasted here, I'm at 1,992 miles and we're six days in. Tomorrow's run to New York is 600 miles plus some more northeast pay so I'll be just under 2,600 miles and well over $100 in extra pay for the first week of the pay period. Good enough for me.
If anyone runs into my fiance...
I was sent back to the Sauder furniture place in Archbold to pick up a load tomorrow morning. I weighed the options, but didn't really feel like driving back east to Stony Ridge. That would have been my best bet for meeting Mom for lunch, but it would have been fifteen miles in the wrong direction and then fifteen miles to get back where I started. I went west toward the customer instead and pulled into the little truck stop off the tollway at my exit. I called Mom and let her know that I wouldn't be in Toledo today, to which she offered to drive here and pick me up so I could spend the day at home. It was very thoughtful of her, but I told her it really wouldn't make any sense. A three hour roundtrip to get me this morning and then a three hour roundtrip to bring me back tomorrow morning, just so I could sit on my couch and watch football instead of laying in the bunk and watching football? Nah, there's no reason for that. I told her I'll be home in a few weeks and I'll catch up with her then.
I'll hang out here and watch Game 7 tonight (still pulling for the Tribe even though it makes me feel a little dirty), since I have a nice fast internet connection. Once the game is over, I'll have time to drive the last few miles to the customer and still get a ten hour break there before my appointment tomorrow morning. That's the 'miss' part of a hit and miss CFI weekend - 39 miles for today and a whole lot of down time. The week has been decent, all things considered. With the day wasted in Michigan and the day wasted here, I'm at 1,992 miles and we're six days in. Tomorrow's run to New York is 600 miles plus some more northeast pay so I'll be just under 2,600 miles and well over $100 in extra pay for the first week of the pay period. Good enough for me.
If anyone runs into my fiance...
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