9/15/07

After waiting all day yesterday for a load, I knew the overnight run was going to be a challenge. I got into Maryland before I really started to feel tired, but I was holding my own. By the time I got into Virginia, I was really tired. I needed to make some quick calculations and see if a quick rest stop was possible. The driver who gave me the load in Ohio last night said it was due in Virginia at 5:30am. My dispatch said I needed to be there by 6:30am. If 5:30 was correct, I was going to be late. If 6:30 was correct, I could maybe take a breather. I sent a message asking for clarification and received a reply saying that 6:30 was the appointment time. After receiving that news, I immediately pulled over. I figured out how far I had to go and then took a 20 minute power nap.

Waking up quite refreshed, I finished the run and arrived at 6:20. I checked in with the security guard, who promptly informed me that I was an hour late for my 5:30 appointment. Bad information from Joplin? Who would have guessed? After I was assigned to a dock, I drove over to the warehouse. There was, of course, a trailer in my assigned door. I went inside and asked the receiving clerk what I was supposed to do. Apparently the trailer was empty and they just hadn't informed the driver yet. He pulled his trailer and I backed in. After dropping my trailer and parking in the bobtail area, I walked in to tell them I don't have a CB so they needed to come and get me when I was done. They told me that, since I was late, I would be worked in whenever they had time. I was so exhausted that I didn't care if they took all day. I was going to sleep.

After a few hours of very deep sleep, the yard driver woke me up and told me I was ready to go. I went back in with my Comcheck for the unloading, paid the bill, hooked to my trailer, and headed to the local truck stop. After another nap, I checked my board status. #1 and requested for home. My 14 hour clock was up by then, so I took myself off the board and watched some football. We won't talk about that. I went back on the board this evening and was again #1.

Now I'm sitting about 600 miles from home and need to be there within the next five days. If experience is any guide, I'll be home tomorrow or Monday. I had hoped to squeeze another dispatch in before midnight on the current paycheck, but that looks unlikely at this point. I'm at 5,300 miles right now, so not too spectacular. Given the way the month started with the holiday weekend and whatnot, it could be worse. Once my holiday pay and northeast bonus pay are added in, I'll be over $2,000 for the pay period so I won't worry too much about it.

The Tigers won and the Yankees lost, so at least my day as a baseball fan was better than my day as a football fan. I owe a big thanks to the guys who moderate MyP2P Forum. They do a huge service for those of us who often rely completely on the internet for our television viewing choices. Since the channel selection on TVU went to shit, SopCast seems to be the best bet and these guys put a ton of content on there for guys like me to see. Much obliged fellas. The only TV network that I could get on the television in my truck today was NBC, so the streaming broadcasts on my computer made my day more enjoyable.

9/14/07

I was able to wait long enough to complete a 34 hour restart at home before running over to the customer this morning. Once I got there, things went pretty quickly and I was dispatched back to the terminal. I told them to give me a call when my turn came up, as I was #7 on the board. The guys in Taylor usually say they'll call me and they never do, but there was no point in hanging around the yard waiting for my turn.

I began day one of the 'bunk up' experiment this afternoon. I went through the truck pretty thoroughly. Everything on board was put to a simple test. Have I touched it within the last month? If the answer was 'no,' the item was removed from the truck. I managed to clear enough clutter to allow me to raise the top bunk. Until today, I had used it for storage. I'm not really sure why I felt like changing it, but a change of scenery seemed to be in order, so there you go. We'll see how long it takes until I start looking around the truck for something that I left at home today.

I spent the bulk of my afternoon playing Civilization III on my desktop PC at home. The Russians sneak-attacked me, so I brought the British and the Germans in to help out. Then the Germans turned on me, so I got the Greeks and Chinese on my side. Then the Germans turned the British against me. It was a long and brutal struggle, but I prevailed.

I called the CFI phone system periodically to check my board status. #5, #5, #5, #4, #4, #3, #3, #3, #3, #3 (#3 took a while), "You have a message pending and are assigned to a load."

What happened to #2? I have a full slate of hours available, so I guess I jumped a couple of people. I didn't get a choice of loads, which caused a little concern. As today passed without me going anywhere, I was faced with the choice to just take my home time now or run the risk of getting an unfavorable assignment vis a vis my plans for next week. In a perfect world, I would go somewhere east of the Mississippi, around 500-600 miles from home. That way I could highlight tomorrow and get another 500-600 miles coming back up.

So the suspense must be killing you at this point. How did the Godfather's gambit play out? I was sent to Stony Ridge, Ohio to take a relay from another driver and run it to Virginia for tomorrow morning. Beauty. That will be perfect.

On the way down, I noticed that a hissing sound was coming from my dashboard. It sounded to me like there was something letting air escape and my tanks were pumping the air out as the compressor pumped it in. That's what it sounded like to me. I'm not a mechanic. I pulled over and checked it out. Turns out I was right. One of the air chambers on my trailer was failing to hold air. With the truck rolling, enough air was being pumped back there to operate the brakes, but it wasn't good. So I was in a pretty shitty spot. I didn't want to give the other driver a broken trailer but I needed to make my relay. When I got to the Petro on I-280, they had me in the bay almost immediately. Now, once I'm out (which should be very soon) I'll be good to go.

Overnight driving, the stuff that dreams are made of.

9/13/07

I came into today with big plans to get a lot done. Instead, I took it easy and relaxed. I guess things could be worse. I lost a wager (for entertainment purposes only) when TCU couldn't hold a late lead against Air Force. I suppose that's what I get for gambling. I'm a born loser, as nearly as I can tell.

I got my laundry done. I guess that's one thing accomplished. I made it through a humongous pile of mail. Two months on the road can leave quite a bit of accumulation. I sent a few faxes that I needed to send. Got some files transferred from my laptop to my desktop. I guess it wan't a totally wasted day, but it was pretty heavy on the relaxation.

Tomorrow morning's appointment is for 9:45am so I won't have to wake up terribly early. After that I'll get back on the board and hopefully get back on the road quickly. I'm looking for something to keep me in the midwest and allow me to be back here by next Thursday. Stay tuned for details.

Oh shit, I almost forgot... Michigan fans. Um, the banner in the upper left of this little gem is all you need to read. One week every year I know the Ohio State fans will give me a laugh. They still haven't let me down.


I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

9/12/07

As I sat at the truck stop and whittled away the evening last night, two more CFI drivers pulled in across the way. We'll call them Driver 2 and Driver 3, as I was #1 on the board at the time. When I woke up this morning, Driver 3 was gone. I assumed that he had just been stopping to spend the night on the way to a drop. A few minutes later he pulled back into the parking lot and stopped by to chat. I guess he must have driven over to the fuel island to use the bathroom or something. I don't know. Anyway, he said he got a load assignment at midnight, picking up in Richmond and going to Ontario. He was unhappy about going to Canada, to which I replied, "Doesn't sound so bad to me." He asked if I would want to go to Canada. I said, "Beats sitting here."

I crawled back in the bunk for a little while, then got my load assignment. I, too, was going to Richmond to get a load. 35 miles away, no problem. After I used the restroom and walked back to my truck, I ran into Driver 2. Driver 3 was gone at that point. "How did that guy get going before us," he asked. Pretty good question. I hadn't thought about it. I guessed that maybe he had more hours available or something. "No, we both picked up and dropped off at the same place," Driver 2 continued. "He didn't have more hours." Very interesting. One has to wonder when things like that go on - just what are the planners doing? The planners would hand you some bullshit about how Driver 3 was highlighted for home or something like that if you tried to question them, but he wouldn't have been going to Canada if that were the case. As nearly as I can tell, he got in last, got a load first, and got more miles on his run than Driver 2 or myself. After a few more minutes of conversation, mainly concerning the fact that Driver 2's miles have been even worse than mine this month, I took off.

The customer in Richmond was prompt in getting me loaded, which is always nice. Then I started heading north. I'll be dropping off in Brownstown, Michigan Friday morning. Two days to go 600 miles is not so great, but at least I get a side benefit. I live ten miles from Brownstown. So I left the truck at the yard and headed home. The day off, while not really needed, will give me a chance to get a few things accomplished around town.

Now I'm stuck in a familiar Catch-22. I had planned to highlight for home on Friday. Instead I'll be at home on Friday. So, if I highlight, they'll say, "Okay go home." Then I burn an extra five days with no money coming in when I don't need to be home until Thursday. If I don't highlight, I run the risk of going too far away and not making it back by Thursday. I really haven't had a great month so far (around 4,700 miles) so I can't afford to give up the next few days of work. Since I'll be under local dispatch in Taylor, I'll have some say in which load I get. Hopefully I can pick one somewhere in the midwest so I still make it back. I guess we'll see.