Saturday, March 8, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
3/7/08
To quote the guy pumping fuel next to me at the Pilot this afternoon - "This sucks." Yep, that about sums it up.
I got rolling nice and early today, making two pickups in Buffalo. When I got to the second stop, it started to snow. Both shippers loaded me quickly, so I was in good shape to head for Seymour, Indiana. I had a drop/hook at the Wal-Mart DC on the back end of the run, so the day was set up nicely for me. A little over five hundred miles, a few more bucks in northeast pay, and thirty-five bucks in stop pay, all for one day's work. Then I actually started driving...
New York, for the little while I was in it, wasn't bad. The snowstorm had just reached that area. As the day went on, things got worse... and worse... and worse. You may have heard on the news that our nation's economy lost 63,000 jobs in February. What you probably didn't hear is that those 63,000 lost jobs apparently included every single snow plow driver in Ohio and Indiana. What a debacle. It was pretty damn bad the whole way, and it really did get worse as I went along. The number (and variety) of accidents on I-71 in Ohio was absolutely staggering. On US-50 in Indiana, I was literally following a set of tire tracks and praying that they didn't lead me off the road. The pinnacle was the Wal-Mart lot, where I had to get lined up with my slot, pull forward, shift into reverse, and get a running start in order to back in through a snow drift.
I headed over to the T/A to park for the night. Nope. All full. Every spot, every non-spot, every G-spot, every dog named Spot. Nothin' doin'. I checked my atlas and saw that there is a state scale just north of Seymour. Assuming my next load would come from somewhere north, I headed for the scales. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Just then I got my next assignment which, of course, would be picking up in Kentucky. So I took the next exit and flipped back onto I-65 southbound. I tried the southbound scales, as I really needed to get off the road for the night. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Fifteen miles down the road I found a truck stop. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost impossible to navigate. Ten miles further down was a rest area. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost imposible to navigate. Another seven miles down I tried the Love's and finally caught a break. This place also has a bunch of assholes parked anywhere and everywhere, but someone left at least one space for me.
And that, my friends, is what we call a long ass day. My log book says I drove eleven hours, so I guess I drove eleven hours. Anyone have a problem with that? Good. I have to drop and hook in Shepherdsville, Kentucky tomorrow by noon and then head for Texas. I have two drops in the Dallas area, I think for Wednesday. That will make this week a really good one. Over 3,000 miles, a bunch of northeast pay, and three extra stops.
To balance it out though, the 800-whatever miles by Wednesday morning is a pretty shitty weekend dispatch. They should have set the load up to drop in Lancaster on Monday and wait for a local guy to deliver it. I'll be three and a half days into next week with zero miles, as it stands right now. If they leave the load with me, I'll qualify for a day of layover pay and take a couple days off in Texas. Of course, I'll probably have to twist some arms to get that paid. Today's paycheck was the sixth one without my pay for unloading the trailer at UPS in January. I sent another message and got another reply saying it was being re-submitted. I fail to see how this is so complicated. Next I'll get to explain that a four day dispatch for 800 miles means 48 hours of down time. We'll have to see how that one goes.
March 7th was a very important date in this nation's history. On that day, in 1957, a saint was born. Without her the world would be a far worse place, if for no other reason than that I wouldn't be here. Happy birthday Mom.
I got rolling nice and early today, making two pickups in Buffalo. When I got to the second stop, it started to snow. Both shippers loaded me quickly, so I was in good shape to head for Seymour, Indiana. I had a drop/hook at the Wal-Mart DC on the back end of the run, so the day was set up nicely for me. A little over five hundred miles, a few more bucks in northeast pay, and thirty-five bucks in stop pay, all for one day's work. Then I actually started driving...
New York, for the little while I was in it, wasn't bad. The snowstorm had just reached that area. As the day went on, things got worse... and worse... and worse. You may have heard on the news that our nation's economy lost 63,000 jobs in February. What you probably didn't hear is that those 63,000 lost jobs apparently included every single snow plow driver in Ohio and Indiana. What a debacle. It was pretty damn bad the whole way, and it really did get worse as I went along. The number (and variety) of accidents on I-71 in Ohio was absolutely staggering. On US-50 in Indiana, I was literally following a set of tire tracks and praying that they didn't lead me off the road. The pinnacle was the Wal-Mart lot, where I had to get lined up with my slot, pull forward, shift into reverse, and get a running start in order to back in through a snow drift.
I headed over to the T/A to park for the night. Nope. All full. Every spot, every non-spot, every G-spot, every dog named Spot. Nothin' doin'. I checked my atlas and saw that there is a state scale just north of Seymour. Assuming my next load would come from somewhere north, I headed for the scales. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Just then I got my next assignment which, of course, would be picking up in Kentucky. So I took the next exit and flipped back onto I-65 southbound. I tried the southbound scales, as I really needed to get off the road for the night. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Fifteen miles down the road I found a truck stop. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost impossible to navigate. Ten miles further down was a rest area. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost imposible to navigate. Another seven miles down I tried the Love's and finally caught a break. This place also has a bunch of assholes parked anywhere and everywhere, but someone left at least one space for me.
And that, my friends, is what we call a long ass day. My log book says I drove eleven hours, so I guess I drove eleven hours. Anyone have a problem with that? Good. I have to drop and hook in Shepherdsville, Kentucky tomorrow by noon and then head for Texas. I have two drops in the Dallas area, I think for Wednesday. That will make this week a really good one. Over 3,000 miles, a bunch of northeast pay, and three extra stops.
To balance it out though, the 800-whatever miles by Wednesday morning is a pretty shitty weekend dispatch. They should have set the load up to drop in Lancaster on Monday and wait for a local guy to deliver it. I'll be three and a half days into next week with zero miles, as it stands right now. If they leave the load with me, I'll qualify for a day of layover pay and take a couple days off in Texas. Of course, I'll probably have to twist some arms to get that paid. Today's paycheck was the sixth one without my pay for unloading the trailer at UPS in January. I sent another message and got another reply saying it was being re-submitted. I fail to see how this is so complicated. Next I'll get to explain that a four day dispatch for 800 miles means 48 hours of down time. We'll have to see how that one goes.
March 7th was a very important date in this nation's history. On that day, in 1957, a saint was born. Without her the world would be a far worse place, if for no other reason than that I wouldn't be here. Happy birthday Mom.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
3/6/08
It turns out that I can get lost even on a day when I don't pick up or deliver anything. So I have that going for me... which is nice. I called the Kenworth dealer first thing this morning and asked for directions. I-90 to so and so, take a right, take this exit, blah blah blah. I got to the last street and I was supposed to take a left at the second blinking yellow light. Maybe it's just me, but I assumed that this would mean I should proceed past the first blinking yellow. Yeah, there was no second blinking yellow. So I wound up in some residential ghetto, under construction, on a non-truck route, with no idea where I was going. I found my way back to the highway and circled back. As I got off, I called the dealer and asked for directions again. "Turn left at the second blinking yellow." What the hell? I pressed for more info and the guy said that there was a restaurant called Rooster's on the corner. That helped. It was, of course, the first (and only) blinking yellow; the one that I had passed through the first time.
About an hour after I checked in with the service department, they pulled my truck inside. Beauty. Maybe I could still get in a decent day's work after they finished. Ten minutes later, someone must have called and told them who I was. After all, I'm not allowed to have things go smoothly at a Kenworth dealer. They had two windshields in stock - one with a crack and one that was scratched up. So I had to wait all day for their afternoon parts shipment to arrive. On the bright side though, this new windshield is awesome. I hadn't realized just how much the surface of a window gets etched over time. When this one is clean, it looks like there's not even a windshield in front of me.
So I got back on the board around 5pm today and I was #2. By the time I got to the palatial (aka piece of shit) truck stop in Buffalo, I was up to #1. And that's as far as I got today. At least this day gave my log book a break. I wasn't going to have much of a weekend if I kept burning hours the way I have been lately. I pick up good hours tomorrow but then only three and a half hours Saturday. Carrying some hours over from today should help me out.
I got an answer to a question that I never thought to ask earlier today. My dispatch to Buffalo was followed by the little mesage saying I got a few bucks in northeast pay. We always get paid to drive to the shop, but I guess this was the first time I've done so in the northeast. It never occurred to me that I would get my extra nickel. I suppose it makes sense, since I was still driving their truck even if I wasn't picking up or delivering a load. You learn something every day.
About an hour after I checked in with the service department, they pulled my truck inside. Beauty. Maybe I could still get in a decent day's work after they finished. Ten minutes later, someone must have called and told them who I was. After all, I'm not allowed to have things go smoothly at a Kenworth dealer. They had two windshields in stock - one with a crack and one that was scratched up. So I had to wait all day for their afternoon parts shipment to arrive. On the bright side though, this new windshield is awesome. I hadn't realized just how much the surface of a window gets etched over time. When this one is clean, it looks like there's not even a windshield in front of me.
So I got back on the board around 5pm today and I was #2. By the time I got to the palatial (aka piece of shit) truck stop in Buffalo, I was up to #1. And that's as far as I got today. At least this day gave my log book a break. I wasn't going to have much of a weekend if I kept burning hours the way I have been lately. I pick up good hours tomorrow but then only three and a half hours Saturday. Carrying some hours over from today should help me out.
I got an answer to a question that I never thought to ask earlier today. My dispatch to Buffalo was followed by the little mesage saying I got a few bucks in northeast pay. We always get paid to drive to the shop, but I guess this was the first time I've done so in the northeast. It never occurred to me that I would get my extra nickel. I suppose it makes sense, since I was still driving their truck even if I wasn't picking up or delivering a load. You learn something every day.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
3/5/08
To quote Kid Rock - "I ain't seen the sun shine in three damn days." I can't tell if I'm tired or just in a winter malaise. Only the first half of today was rainy, but it was still pretty dreary all day.
I woke up to a load assignment early this morning. Pickups in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York followed by a delivery in Illinois... tomorrow morning. Yeah, right. Anyhow, the first pickup was scheduled for 7am so I figured I had better get moving and then sort out the details later. A parking lot with space to set up and a dock with room on each side? Oh my! That was nice. Then just across the state line into New Jersey, what did we find at stop 2? Well, that one was a blindside from the street, but it wasn't terribly tight and the street wasn't terribly busy. So we're still good. Stop 3 was a standard kind of dock arrangement, so I was three for three today in terms of avoiding the crazy shipping locations I've seen lately. Beauty.
While I was at stop 2, I got some clarification on the plan for this load. It was originally booked as a team load, but they had to set up a pair of relays in order to get it to Illinois by tomorrow morning. I passed it off a little while ago. We'll just say, in light of the hours I had available this morning, that I am in an undisclosed location and that the miles will somehow fit within my log book.
Compared to yesterday, today's driving was a lot better. I actually got to use my cruise control for a while, believe it or not. The roads were clean, even where all the ice and snow came down yesterday. I guess there's something to be said for timing.
I'm racking up some miles (plus northeast pay and stop pay) this week, so that's pretty cool, but I'm going to have to get that (formerly little) crack in my windshield fixed tomorrow. It has started to snake its way across into my field of vision. I'll call road service in a little while and see what they have to say.
I woke up to a load assignment early this morning. Pickups in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York followed by a delivery in Illinois... tomorrow morning. Yeah, right. Anyhow, the first pickup was scheduled for 7am so I figured I had better get moving and then sort out the details later. A parking lot with space to set up and a dock with room on each side? Oh my! That was nice. Then just across the state line into New Jersey, what did we find at stop 2? Well, that one was a blindside from the street, but it wasn't terribly tight and the street wasn't terribly busy. So we're still good. Stop 3 was a standard kind of dock arrangement, so I was three for three today in terms of avoiding the crazy shipping locations I've seen lately. Beauty.
While I was at stop 2, I got some clarification on the plan for this load. It was originally booked as a team load, but they had to set up a pair of relays in order to get it to Illinois by tomorrow morning. I passed it off a little while ago. We'll just say, in light of the hours I had available this morning, that I am in an undisclosed location and that the miles will somehow fit within my log book.
Compared to yesterday, today's driving was a lot better. I actually got to use my cruise control for a while, believe it or not. The roads were clean, even where all the ice and snow came down yesterday. I guess there's something to be said for timing.
I'm racking up some miles (plus northeast pay and stop pay) this week, so that's pretty cool, but I'm going to have to get that (formerly little) crack in my windshield fixed tomorrow. It has started to snake its way across into my field of vision. I'll call road service in a little while and see what they have to say.
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