After spending the morning in limbo, I finally got the clearance to take off with my trailer. I wound up in Laredo long enough to get a 34-hour restart so maybe I'll be glad for the delay by the time next weekend rolls around.
It was typical holiday weekend traffic for 99% of the 670 miles that I covered today. Anyone wanna guess which city along Satan's Driveway had traffic at a dead stop? Oh hell, you already know. I blew through San Antonio at the speed limit and things were rolling right along as I approached Austin. Traffic was light, there was no road work, and everything looked promising. Then we stopped. There was no obvious reason at first, but then I did a little detective work. Cars backed up along the exit ramps. People all over wearing ugly orange shirts. Oh hell. The Mack Brown Correctional Institute must have had a home game today. Always something in that damn town.
Otherwise everything was peachy keen. I stopped for a break and enjoyed a delicious Wendy's Spicy Chicken on the south side of Waco, but otherwise stayed on the road. I'll have to jam in another 650-700 miles tomorrow and then hit the Northeast on Monday. Holiday traffic up there... I just don't know what to expect. I had better get as many miles in as possible by tomorrow.
My week wraps up just a few cheeseburgers short of $1,500. That's welcome news, given my low expectations for next week. Monday holidays aren't generally good for business. Now, even if next week is a little shaky, I know that my bank account should be in good shape before I head down to Chicago and South Bend for a few days. Speaking of which - A couple of people backed out recently, so if anyone cares to join me for the baseball game on 9/12 in Chicago, I have two extra tickets. Just let me know. It's generally understood that you're welcome to buy me a beer, but otherwise the seats (down the left field line) are all paid for. My Tigers pretty much threw in the towel a few weeks ago, but I've never been to the new ballpark in Chicago so a buddy and I are going to check it out.
Last bit of business to address tonight - I've been rained out for the last few nights, so I skipped over that third workout and picked back up with the core stuff to get back on schedule tonight.
[Workout A]
Incline Press - Kept same weights, added two reps
French Press - Kept same weights, added two reps
Side Lateral - Kept same weights, added one rep
Seated Calf Raise - Kept same (maximum) weight, added five reps
Squat - Added ten pounds to each set, kept same reps
So that's a pretty positive workout. I did eat quite a bit more yesterday than I have been eating lately. I'm sure that the extra calories, combined with the three days away from the weights, helped me a little bit tonight.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
8/29/08
I must say that I am a little surprised. Hill says she's on The One's side. Bill says he's on The One's side. And you stubborn folks are holding the current Godfather Poll steady at ten percent? Stunning.
So who says I felt like working today anyway, right? Yeah, I'm still in Laredo. I actually got assigned to a load a while ago but it has an FDA hold on it. Assuming that the feds give us the okay tomorrow morning, I'll be rolling for South Jersey. The load delivers on Tuesday morning and it's 1,958 miles, so I was hoping to head out tonight. No such luck. I will have a 3,800+ mile week plus a pretty good chunk of northeast pay though. I'll just have to put in three long days of driving to get it done. Things could be a whole lot worse. That's for sure.
So who says I felt like working today anyway, right? Yeah, I'm still in Laredo. I actually got assigned to a load a while ago but it has an FDA hold on it. Assuming that the feds give us the okay tomorrow morning, I'll be rolling for South Jersey. The load delivers on Tuesday morning and it's 1,958 miles, so I was hoping to head out tonight. No such luck. I will have a 3,800+ mile week plus a pretty good chunk of northeast pay though. I'll just have to put in three long days of driving to get it done. Things could be a whole lot worse. That's for sure.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
8/28/08
I had a 9am (local time) delivery appointment in Houston, so I got rolling right after my ten hour break was up. I got to Houston at 8am. I got to the customer (in Houston) at 8:45am. Good times. Good times. You know, last night I heard that nobody can find a job in this country and nobody can afford gas. I guess these people didn't get the memo.
The customer was a logistics place with a long straight building and basic loading docks. No great shakes there, but the workers and customers of the place across the parking lot had their personal vehicles all over the place. Backing in proved to be quite a challenge. It took some time, but no vehicles were harmed in the making of this post.
As I sat at the dock, I received a message indicating that my next load was ready to roll. That was good news. The load was scheduled as a 10pm pickup, but the dispatcher in Laredo told me that I could most likely get it early. Turns out he was right. So once I was empty I was able to head over and make my drop/hook, then hit the road for Laredo.
When I got down here I was told that the customer was a 24/7 outfit. Good news for me. They were up on the north side of town by the truck stops, so getting a chance to drop at night was a big plus. Traffic in that area during the day is absolutely intolerable.
So I'm back at the yard and I'm #31 on the board. That's pretty good going into a Friday. My week so far is at 1,871 miles. Anything decent over the long weekend should leave me in good shape. All in all, I guess you could say that I'm content.
But it gets better... Tonight I heard that people around the world are going to love me again, I'm going to get a tax cut, I'm going to make more money, I won't need oil from the Middle East to run my car anymore, if I buy a house the price will never go down, my health insurance is going to get cheaper, if I go back to college that will be cheaper too, if I can't get out of the way of a hurricane the President will come and save me, maniacal dictators won't want to harm their neighbors anymore, we'll move past the sins of my ancestors (Irish immigrants who didn't own slaves BTW), Social Security isn't really going bankrupt so I don't need to worry about retirement, and... best of all... those evil rich dudes will pay for it all. I'm pumped!
The customer was a logistics place with a long straight building and basic loading docks. No great shakes there, but the workers and customers of the place across the parking lot had their personal vehicles all over the place. Backing in proved to be quite a challenge. It took some time, but no vehicles were harmed in the making of this post.
As I sat at the dock, I received a message indicating that my next load was ready to roll. That was good news. The load was scheduled as a 10pm pickup, but the dispatcher in Laredo told me that I could most likely get it early. Turns out he was right. So once I was empty I was able to head over and make my drop/hook, then hit the road for Laredo.
When I got down here I was told that the customer was a 24/7 outfit. Good news for me. They were up on the north side of town by the truck stops, so getting a chance to drop at night was a big plus. Traffic in that area during the day is absolutely intolerable.
So I'm back at the yard and I'm #31 on the board. That's pretty good going into a Friday. My week so far is at 1,871 miles. Anything decent over the long weekend should leave me in good shape. All in all, I guess you could say that I'm content.
But it gets better... Tonight I heard that people around the world are going to love me again, I'm going to get a tax cut, I'm going to make more money, I won't need oil from the Middle East to run my car anymore, if I buy a house the price will never go down, my health insurance is going to get cheaper, if I go back to college that will be cheaper too, if I can't get out of the way of a hurricane the President will come and save me, maniacal dictators won't want to harm their neighbors anymore, we'll move past the sins of my ancestors (Irish immigrants who didn't own slaves BTW), Social Security isn't really going bankrupt so I don't need to worry about retirement, and... best of all... those evil rich dudes will pay for it all. I'm pumped!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
8/27/08
So my little split break experiment was perfectly timed... for overnight road work on the north side of Austin. Freaking I-35. After finishing up the other end of the break, the trip into Laredo was nice and easy.
I had a couple of choices coming out of Laredo. I could take a load back up I-35 to the Dallas suburbs for tomorrow morning. That one sounds bad by default, for obvious reasons. Or I could take one to Houston for tomorrow morning. The miles were shorter on the Houston run, but it came with a pre-planned load heading back to Laredo. The dispatcher seemed to think that there should be plenty of freight for the weekend down there. So I'm headed to Houston. Hopefully I can get some decent miles over the long weekend once I get back to Laredo.
I was in Laredo for an eight hour stretch to get me another leg of driving and use up the rest of my hours under the 70 hour rule. I got to Beeville tonight, where I can take ten hours and get out of the split by tomorrow. I'll have an early morning of driving in order to get to Houston, so I guess it's bedtime.
I had a couple of choices coming out of Laredo. I could take a load back up I-35 to the Dallas suburbs for tomorrow morning. That one sounds bad by default, for obvious reasons. Or I could take one to Houston for tomorrow morning. The miles were shorter on the Houston run, but it came with a pre-planned load heading back to Laredo. The dispatcher seemed to think that there should be plenty of freight for the weekend down there. So I'm headed to Houston. Hopefully I can get some decent miles over the long weekend once I get back to Laredo.
I was in Laredo for an eight hour stretch to get me another leg of driving and use up the rest of my hours under the 70 hour rule. I got to Beeville tonight, where I can take ten hours and get out of the split by tomorrow. I'll have an early morning of driving in order to get to Houston, so I guess it's bedtime.
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