We had heavy traffic in Buffalo. We had light traffic in Worcester. We had a snow storm in Syracuse. We had sunshine in Albany. We had flat land in Western New York. We had steep climbs in Western Massachusetts. We had cold weather along I-90. We had... well... even colder weather along I-95. This Tale of Two Cities motif could go only so far, I suppose.
This long day of driving may have been even longer if not for the damned feds. Eleven hours is the limit for one shift. That's plenty of hours as far as I'm concerned, but the inflexibility of the rules can lead to a problem. If I had driven eleven hours today, I would have found myself somewhere between Portland and Augusta. I think that there is a service plaza along the turnpike up there, but I seem to recall the parking being extremely scarce. I don't get to Maine very often, so my memory on the subject may not be 100% accurate, but I really can't take the chance and find out the hard way that I was right. If I drive the full eleven hours and then can't find a parking space, there is no provision in the rules allowing me to drive to the next truck stop or rest area. Some bureaucrat has decided that an eleven hour drive is just peachy, but eleven hours and twenty minutes - deadly.
So I had to play it safe and stop at the service plaza on the turnpike before Portland. And the mornings just keep getting earlier. To reach Milbridge by 8am, I'll probably have to leave here around 3am or so. It's a little over 200 miles from here to there, but I have no idea how long the drive will actually take. It's snowing, for starters. The pace of traffic wasn't bad this afternoon, but if the snow comes down all night, who knows? Plus the last fifty-something miles will be on U.S. highways, winding through various towns. Plus I need to make a fuel stop along the way. So yeah, I guess 3am it is. Fun times...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
1/19/10
Early mornings, early mornings, early mornings... This is getting old in a hurry. I suppose that, given today's positive impact on the bottom line here at Fenian Godfather Inc., I shouldn't complain too much. But I still haven't found a way to reverse that annoying correlation between working a lot and making a lot of money. I'm trying though.
This morning's drive over to New Carlisle was quick and easy. I was checked in, unloaded, and sent on my way before my 8am appointment rolled around. I pulled off to the side of the customer's driveway in hopes that a new assignment would come quickly, given that I didn't know which way I was headed next. After a half hour with no sign of a new assignment, the call of nature dictated that I go... somewhere. Okay then, either back eastward to the Pilot in South Bend or westward to the next service plaza on the turnpike. My impression was that more of our shippers were located to the west, but the truck stop in South Bend was closer. It also seemed like a better idea not to get myself stuck heading one way on the toll road, just in case I had to go in a different direction.
So I headed to South bend. Of course my assignment wound up taking me back to the west (as if I had to tell you). Story of life. I was at the truck stop for a half hour or so, then it was time to head to the steel place in Kouts. My load wasn't ready when I arrived at the shipper, so I had a chance to kick back and relax for a couple of hours. Then, armed with my 43,000 pound payload, I was off and running once again.
This run is taking me to Milbridge, Maine for a delivery at 8am on Thursday. In the technical parlance of my profession, this schedule will require what is known as 'balls out' driving on my part. I blasted my way across Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania this evening before the 14 hour rule forced me to seek a place to park. An abandoned truck stop in Ripley, New York will do the trick for tonight, but we're just getting started. After ten hours of down time I'll have to get back on the turnpike for another long day of driving. I have no idea where another eleven hours on the road will take me, but hopefully there will be somewhere to park once I get there. Then one more ten hour break before I'll have to finish off the trip before dawn on Thursday.
Apparently I'm supposed to get an annual inspection on my truck as well, but that sure as hell ain't happening tomorrow. I can't afford to waste any time sitting around and waiting for a mechanic. This schedule is awfully tight as it is. Of course, I'll probably roll into the customer on Thursday and find that I could have arrived any time before 4pm or something. That seems to happen as often as not when I run my ass off to get somewhere. For whatever reason though, we're always dispatched to show up as ealy as legally possible.
The positive side of the deal will be that this week's paycheck should be better than those of recent weeks. I'll be empty on Thursday morning with 2,143 miles and a bunch of northeast pay already on the books. Any kind of mediocre Thursday-Saturday will leave me sitting pretty. I'm burning through hours in a hurry at this pace, so 'mediocre' is about the best that I can do through the weekend within the confines of the 70 hour rule, but that's fine. Maybe I'll get some sleep one of these days.
This morning's drive over to New Carlisle was quick and easy. I was checked in, unloaded, and sent on my way before my 8am appointment rolled around. I pulled off to the side of the customer's driveway in hopes that a new assignment would come quickly, given that I didn't know which way I was headed next. After a half hour with no sign of a new assignment, the call of nature dictated that I go... somewhere. Okay then, either back eastward to the Pilot in South Bend or westward to the next service plaza on the turnpike. My impression was that more of our shippers were located to the west, but the truck stop in South Bend was closer. It also seemed like a better idea not to get myself stuck heading one way on the toll road, just in case I had to go in a different direction.
So I headed to South bend. Of course my assignment wound up taking me back to the west (as if I had to tell you). Story of life. I was at the truck stop for a half hour or so, then it was time to head to the steel place in Kouts. My load wasn't ready when I arrived at the shipper, so I had a chance to kick back and relax for a couple of hours. Then, armed with my 43,000 pound payload, I was off and running once again.
This run is taking me to Milbridge, Maine for a delivery at 8am on Thursday. In the technical parlance of my profession, this schedule will require what is known as 'balls out' driving on my part. I blasted my way across Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania this evening before the 14 hour rule forced me to seek a place to park. An abandoned truck stop in Ripley, New York will do the trick for tonight, but we're just getting started. After ten hours of down time I'll have to get back on the turnpike for another long day of driving. I have no idea where another eleven hours on the road will take me, but hopefully there will be somewhere to park once I get there. Then one more ten hour break before I'll have to finish off the trip before dawn on Thursday.
Apparently I'm supposed to get an annual inspection on my truck as well, but that sure as hell ain't happening tomorrow. I can't afford to waste any time sitting around and waiting for a mechanic. This schedule is awfully tight as it is. Of course, I'll probably roll into the customer on Thursday and find that I could have arrived any time before 4pm or something. That seems to happen as often as not when I run my ass off to get somewhere. For whatever reason though, we're always dispatched to show up as ealy as legally possible.
The positive side of the deal will be that this week's paycheck should be better than those of recent weeks. I'll be empty on Thursday morning with 2,143 miles and a bunch of northeast pay already on the books. Any kind of mediocre Thursday-Saturday will leave me sitting pretty. I'm burning through hours in a hurry at this pace, so 'mediocre' is about the best that I can do through the weekend within the confines of the 70 hour rule, but that's fine. Maybe I'll get some sleep one of these days.
Monday, January 18, 2010
1/18/10
Never, and I do mean never, underestimate the ability of a Norv Turner team to choke in a big game. As far as you Chargers fans out there are concerned, you can think of us Redskins fans as the dude who used to date your girlfriend. We've already seen the things that you'll start to figure out.
I swear that there is some sort of biometric sensor in my truck, allowing the Qualcomm unit to figure out when I'm trying to sleep. If I take a nap in the afternoon, then the messages come through in the afternoon. If I take a nap in the morning, then the messages come through in the morning. Today, after scooting through Virginia and Maryland before the sun came up, I was pretty exhausted. I got onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike and pulled into the service plaza near Bedford. Once I was solidly settled into dreamland - ATTENTION! YOU HAVE ONE UNREAD MESSAGE! I sat up and took a look. Something about Haiti. Back to bed.
After another 25 minutes I was just starting to drift away and then - ATTENTION!... Son of a... I got up and looked again. Okay, I couldn't be too mad about this one. My delivery appointment tomorrow is 8am instead of 7am. Given how I feel about mornings, that extra hour is certainly welcome news to me.
I've said it plenty of times here and my opinion hasn't changed - eleven hours of driving is way too much for one day. My latest data point comes from, well, today. From Doswell, Virginia to the service plaza outside Elkhart, Indiana. That's a long drive. The reason I drove so far today was that, had I stopped any sooner, I would have been forced to start even earlier tomorrow. Quite a devil's bargain for someone like me who (a) prefers to start work at 10am and (b) considers 400-500 miles on the road to be plenty for one day.
This is all, of course, just part of the job that I choose to do. It is interesting though in the context of the upcoming ruling from the feds. As much as I would have no trouble saying that ten hours of driving per shift is probably better than eleven, it wouldn't really make a whole lot of difference in real life under the current structure. The appointments would still fit. Drivers would just have to shut down an hour sooner one day and start driving an hour sooner the next day. Personally, I would just go with a 600 mile daily limit and a 3,500 mile weekly limit. Get rid of the asinine regulations that say I could spend ten hours in a strip club and then start driving again, perfectly legally, but I can't sleep for six hours and then get back on the road. If they just went with a mileage limit, they could ensure 100% compliance by pulling the odometer readings from the satellite unit at midnight and people could rest whenever they felt tired. Yeah, I know, my opinion and a dollar...
Setting aside the length of the trip, today's drive went about as well as can be expected. There were a few slow spots getting through the construction zones on I-495 but the rest of the route was pretty clear. The only weather to mention was a little bit of dense fog in one of Pennsylvania's valleys. No big deal though. It looks like I'll have around 30 miles to cover in the morning to reach my consignee in New Carlisle. From there, who knows? There tends to be plenty of freight in this part of the country but there also tend to be plenty of trucks in this part of the country. I would like to think that I won't get stuck setting up for a Con-way run leaving Gary or South Bend on Wednesday morning, but history suggests that I probably shouldn't get my hopes up.
I swear that there is some sort of biometric sensor in my truck, allowing the Qualcomm unit to figure out when I'm trying to sleep. If I take a nap in the afternoon, then the messages come through in the afternoon. If I take a nap in the morning, then the messages come through in the morning. Today, after scooting through Virginia and Maryland before the sun came up, I was pretty exhausted. I got onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike and pulled into the service plaza near Bedford. Once I was solidly settled into dreamland - ATTENTION! YOU HAVE ONE UNREAD MESSAGE! I sat up and took a look. Something about Haiti. Back to bed.
After another 25 minutes I was just starting to drift away and then - ATTENTION!... Son of a... I got up and looked again. Okay, I couldn't be too mad about this one. My delivery appointment tomorrow is 8am instead of 7am. Given how I feel about mornings, that extra hour is certainly welcome news to me.
I've said it plenty of times here and my opinion hasn't changed - eleven hours of driving is way too much for one day. My latest data point comes from, well, today. From Doswell, Virginia to the service plaza outside Elkhart, Indiana. That's a long drive. The reason I drove so far today was that, had I stopped any sooner, I would have been forced to start even earlier tomorrow. Quite a devil's bargain for someone like me who (a) prefers to start work at 10am and (b) considers 400-500 miles on the road to be plenty for one day.
This is all, of course, just part of the job that I choose to do. It is interesting though in the context of the upcoming ruling from the feds. As much as I would have no trouble saying that ten hours of driving per shift is probably better than eleven, it wouldn't really make a whole lot of difference in real life under the current structure. The appointments would still fit. Drivers would just have to shut down an hour sooner one day and start driving an hour sooner the next day. Personally, I would just go with a 600 mile daily limit and a 3,500 mile weekly limit. Get rid of the asinine regulations that say I could spend ten hours in a strip club and then start driving again, perfectly legally, but I can't sleep for six hours and then get back on the road. If they just went with a mileage limit, they could ensure 100% compliance by pulling the odometer readings from the satellite unit at midnight and people could rest whenever they felt tired. Yeah, I know, my opinion and a dollar...
Setting aside the length of the trip, today's drive went about as well as can be expected. There were a few slow spots getting through the construction zones on I-495 but the rest of the route was pretty clear. The only weather to mention was a little bit of dense fog in one of Pennsylvania's valleys. No big deal though. It looks like I'll have around 30 miles to cover in the morning to reach my consignee in New Carlisle. From there, who knows? There tends to be plenty of freight in this part of the country but there also tend to be plenty of trucks in this part of the country. I would like to think that I won't get stuck setting up for a Con-way run leaving Gary or South Bend on Wednesday morning, but history suggests that I probably shouldn't get my hopes up.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
1/17/10
Okay. Picture yourself spending an evening with someone. This person looks over at you and says, "Not tonight, but tomorrow, I'm gonna give you something nice." Yeah, your eyebrows are raised now, aren't they? Then, not even five minutes later, she (or he, as the case may be) says to you, "Just kidding, I meant to say that to somebody else." Well, the metaphor is a bit of a stretch, but what are you gonna do when you spend your days and nights in a fiberglass box? As I sat watching football and talking on the phone last night, I received a pre-planned assignment for a pretty good run going from Gordonsville to Laredo. Then, a couple of minutes later, I got a message saying that they had sent the assignment to the wrong truck. No pre-plan for me. Bummer.
The tradeoff for stopping short and watching those two incredibly boring games yesterday was that I had to get on the road wicked early today. It sure seemed like a bad tradeoff as I wound my way down the road at 6am this morning, to say the least. After rolling into the distribution center and checking in with the security guard, I had to drop my trailer in a door and then drive my truck over to a separate parking area. Normally this process is just an extra hassle, but today it was actually good news. Being detached from the trailer meant that I could sleep for a while without getting bounced around by the forklifts. Beauty.
I told the lady in the receiving office that my CB was broken, so she said that she would send someone out to let me know when my trailer was empty. During the lengthy time that I didn't have a CB, I found that it was a hell of a lot better that way. Instead of sitting and listening to radio chatter until someone calls your truck number, you get to relax and wait for a phone call or a knock on the door. Thus, I was able to enjoy some peace and quiet while I waited today.
After an hour or so, I was awakened by a knock on the door and that was that. Back into the office, grab the paperwork, over to the door, hook the trailer, out to the security booth, close the trailer doors, down the street to the struck stop, try to go back to sleep. Not much luck getting to sleep again, but I was #1 on the board at least.
Of course, this made last night's pre-plan revocation seem even more strange. If I was the only one in town, then... I don't know. I suppose there could be plenty of reasons to bring in another truck for that load going from Gordonsville to Laredo. Maybe someone is trying to get home. Maybe it's team freight and has to get to Laredo quickly. Maybe it's a hazmat load and I can't pull it. Maybe someone else was on the board before me this morning and the load has been assigned to that person. Maybe there was something else that they needed me to pick up sooner. Or, you know, maybe there's no reason at all. I suppose that's a possibility too. Since I enjoy being an insignificant peon, I don't spend too much time worrying about stuff that is outside my control. I'm content to drive my truck and leave the rest to the folks who are paid to think. As long as I'm always on time and I don't crash, things seem to work out fine in the end.
So I wasn't too perplexed about that one, but the way the day turned out certainly left me scratching my head. After hanging out at the truck stop all morning I turned on the football game and kicked back to relax. Shortly after 3pm, having waited six hours for a new assignment, I was sent to the paper mill in West Point to pick up a loaded trailer that had been sitting there all day. I headed over and made my drop/hook, then cut across on VA-30 toward I-95. My 14 hour clock didn't have enough time left for me to get past D.C. tonight, so I had to settle for the truck stop in Doswell. Given that I'm due in Northern Indiana by 7am on Tuesday, it sure would have been helpful if I could have gotten the assignment sooner. That way I could have driven further this evening and left a more workable schedule for the rest of the trip. I'm not sure what would be the explanation for this one, but I guess it's not my area of expertise. It's best for me just to drive my truck and take things as they come.
My last few trips along I-95 have been less than enjoyable, so I'm leaning toward heading back out as soon as my ten hour break is over in the morning. I can leave here at 4:45am and maybe get past D.C. before the beltway becomes a total mess. I absolutely hate getting up so early in the morning, but it looks like that's probably going to be the way to go. At least the week is off to a good start in terms of miles.
Guess I'll catch the end of this AFC game and try to get some rest. Maybe we can get one exciting finish this weekend.
The tradeoff for stopping short and watching those two incredibly boring games yesterday was that I had to get on the road wicked early today. It sure seemed like a bad tradeoff as I wound my way down the road at 6am this morning, to say the least. After rolling into the distribution center and checking in with the security guard, I had to drop my trailer in a door and then drive my truck over to a separate parking area. Normally this process is just an extra hassle, but today it was actually good news. Being detached from the trailer meant that I could sleep for a while without getting bounced around by the forklifts. Beauty.
I told the lady in the receiving office that my CB was broken, so she said that she would send someone out to let me know when my trailer was empty. During the lengthy time that I didn't have a CB, I found that it was a hell of a lot better that way. Instead of sitting and listening to radio chatter until someone calls your truck number, you get to relax and wait for a phone call or a knock on the door. Thus, I was able to enjoy some peace and quiet while I waited today.
After an hour or so, I was awakened by a knock on the door and that was that. Back into the office, grab the paperwork, over to the door, hook the trailer, out to the security booth, close the trailer doors, down the street to the struck stop, try to go back to sleep. Not much luck getting to sleep again, but I was #1 on the board at least.
Of course, this made last night's pre-plan revocation seem even more strange. If I was the only one in town, then... I don't know. I suppose there could be plenty of reasons to bring in another truck for that load going from Gordonsville to Laredo. Maybe someone is trying to get home. Maybe it's team freight and has to get to Laredo quickly. Maybe it's a hazmat load and I can't pull it. Maybe someone else was on the board before me this morning and the load has been assigned to that person. Maybe there was something else that they needed me to pick up sooner. Or, you know, maybe there's no reason at all. I suppose that's a possibility too. Since I enjoy being an insignificant peon, I don't spend too much time worrying about stuff that is outside my control. I'm content to drive my truck and leave the rest to the folks who are paid to think. As long as I'm always on time and I don't crash, things seem to work out fine in the end.
So I wasn't too perplexed about that one, but the way the day turned out certainly left me scratching my head. After hanging out at the truck stop all morning I turned on the football game and kicked back to relax. Shortly after 3pm, having waited six hours for a new assignment, I was sent to the paper mill in West Point to pick up a loaded trailer that had been sitting there all day. I headed over and made my drop/hook, then cut across on VA-30 toward I-95. My 14 hour clock didn't have enough time left for me to get past D.C. tonight, so I had to settle for the truck stop in Doswell. Given that I'm due in Northern Indiana by 7am on Tuesday, it sure would have been helpful if I could have gotten the assignment sooner. That way I could have driven further this evening and left a more workable schedule for the rest of the trip. I'm not sure what would be the explanation for this one, but I guess it's not my area of expertise. It's best for me just to drive my truck and take things as they come.
My last few trips along I-95 have been less than enjoyable, so I'm leaning toward heading back out as soon as my ten hour break is over in the morning. I can leave here at 4:45am and maybe get past D.C. before the beltway becomes a total mess. I absolutely hate getting up so early in the morning, but it looks like that's probably going to be the way to go. At least the week is off to a good start in terms of miles.
Guess I'll catch the end of this AFC game and try to get some rest. Maybe we can get one exciting finish this weekend.
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