If I told you that I spent the day in Houston, shooing away the hookers, panhandlers, DVD salesmen, chrome polishers, and other assorted riffraff, only to find myself sitting at #3 on the board tonight, then you might assume that my employer simply didn't have any freight today. Nah, I'm not going with that narrative. I took the day off in honor of my mother's 52nd birthday. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. In fact, I invented the birthday! Yeah! That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
So my week wraps up where it was a couple of days ago - below $1,000... again. The 2,418 miles aren't bad I guess. It is just rather disappointing to have to, er, take the day off in honor of my mother's birthday after the way the last two weeks went. This week was shaping up to be a good one for a minute there.
Have no fear though. I'm told that tomorrow will start an hour early. That has to count for something.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
3/6/09
Ahh yes, rush hour in Houston. One of life's simple little pleasures. After waking this afternoon and making the trek down I-45, I got to remember just how much I love this town. The statue of Sam Houston is 65 miles away though. As I understand it, the fella retired in Huntsville but still. There is a city called Houston. I don't know.
I had two sets of directions to my consignee - one to a warehouse off the I-610 frontage road and one down by the Budweiser brewery. The address on the bills corresponded with the place by the brewery. My colleagues at the shipper last night seemed to think that we were going to the other place. After some sheerly brilliant analysis, I decided to stop at the place on the frontage road first. It was more or less on the way to the brewery anyhow. Better to go there first than to go to the one by the brewery and have to backtrack. As I walked in the door, an elderly hispanic gentleman started muttering, "Market Street. Market Street." Okay then, on to the other location.
The warehouse was one of those where you can't really turn around. There were trucks and trailers backed along both sides, docks on the left and a fence on the right. I needed to back in along the fence and then visit the receiving office to sign in. So, given the inability to turn around, I decided to back into an open dock on my left, pull out forward in the other direction and then back in along the fence (which would then be on my left). This would clearly be safer and easier than backing directly toward the fence on my blindside. If you happened to see a dipshit who couldn't back his truck in Houston today, I was that dipshit. No explanation really. Just one of those days. I did a reasonable job of getting backed into the dock door in order to turn myself toward the entrance. Backing along the fence proved to be a whole other adventure. Get started - that won't work - set up again - nope - we'll try another spot - get started - that spot is way too tight - try again - oh hell, now we're all screwed up - might as well go back toward the first one. Eventually I settled in and the people who were waiting while I blocked the exit were able to leave.
My hunch that I wouldn't be getting unloaded early proved to be correct. I showed up at 5pm and the driver with the 4:30pm appointment was assigned a dock shortly thereafter. Then there was another guy with a 5:30pm appointment. Then me, with a 6:30pm appointment. I did get a sliver of hope from the 5:30 guy though when he said that he had received a pre-planned load to be picked up once he was empty. At that point, I still had nowhere to go once I was unloaded. I was hoping for a pre-plan of my own.
Consistent with an impression that I've formed during my time with this company, the driver who had a pre-plan was an owner-operator. No such luck for the company guys, apparently. I got on the board at #5 once I was empty. I'm still #5.
I backed in along the fence line again and waited for someone to tell me to leave. Nobody has told me to leave, so I guess the warehouse is home for the night. I wasn't planning on staying here so of course I had no food with me. Enter Domino's delivery and my American Express card. Good deal.
Being empty and #5 going into a weekend is likely not a good scenario for me. Maybe I can at least get a decent deadhead tomorrow before the pay week ends.
I had two sets of directions to my consignee - one to a warehouse off the I-610 frontage road and one down by the Budweiser brewery. The address on the bills corresponded with the place by the brewery. My colleagues at the shipper last night seemed to think that we were going to the other place. After some sheerly brilliant analysis, I decided to stop at the place on the frontage road first. It was more or less on the way to the brewery anyhow. Better to go there first than to go to the one by the brewery and have to backtrack. As I walked in the door, an elderly hispanic gentleman started muttering, "Market Street. Market Street." Okay then, on to the other location.
The warehouse was one of those where you can't really turn around. There were trucks and trailers backed along both sides, docks on the left and a fence on the right. I needed to back in along the fence and then visit the receiving office to sign in. So, given the inability to turn around, I decided to back into an open dock on my left, pull out forward in the other direction and then back in along the fence (which would then be on my left). This would clearly be safer and easier than backing directly toward the fence on my blindside. If you happened to see a dipshit who couldn't back his truck in Houston today, I was that dipshit. No explanation really. Just one of those days. I did a reasonable job of getting backed into the dock door in order to turn myself toward the entrance. Backing along the fence proved to be a whole other adventure. Get started - that won't work - set up again - nope - we'll try another spot - get started - that spot is way too tight - try again - oh hell, now we're all screwed up - might as well go back toward the first one. Eventually I settled in and the people who were waiting while I blocked the exit were able to leave.
My hunch that I wouldn't be getting unloaded early proved to be correct. I showed up at 5pm and the driver with the 4:30pm appointment was assigned a dock shortly thereafter. Then there was another guy with a 5:30pm appointment. Then me, with a 6:30pm appointment. I did get a sliver of hope from the 5:30 guy though when he said that he had received a pre-planned load to be picked up once he was empty. At that point, I still had nowhere to go once I was unloaded. I was hoping for a pre-plan of my own.
Consistent with an impression that I've formed during my time with this company, the driver who had a pre-plan was an owner-operator. No such luck for the company guys, apparently. I got on the board at #5 once I was empty. I'm still #5.
I backed in along the fence line again and waited for someone to tell me to leave. Nobody has told me to leave, so I guess the warehouse is home for the night. I wasn't planning on staying here so of course I had no food with me. Enter Domino's delivery and my American Express card. Good deal.
Being empty and #5 going into a weekend is likely not a good scenario for me. Maybe I can at least get a decent deadhead tomorrow before the pay week ends.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
3/5/09
Well, the schedule may have been a little inconvenient, but we managed to make a few more bucks today. Since I now get to chip in for those second mortgages that many of my fellow comrades used to fund nice cars and family vacations while I paid my rent and invested my money, it's good to know that I'll be able to contribute my fair share this week.
Nobody kicked me out of the consignee's dock this morning so that was a good start. I never did get a pre-plan though. As the guys were taking the freight out of my trailer, I noticed that the parking lot behind the shopping center didn't seem to be filling up. I took this to be a good sign, as I would likely have a place to hang out once I was empty. I also had time for an awesome lunch at Applebee's before they were done unloading. That 10oz. burger is a beauty.
Once I was empty, I pulled off to the corner of the parking lot and hung out for a while. My next assignment came through later in the afternoon. This time around I was set to pick up in Sapulpa and then head down to Houston. My pick up was scheduled for 8:30pm. I would have plenty of time to take a ten hour break along the way and then make my scheduled delivery tomorrow at 6:30pm.
So what do I do there? Pick up at 8:30pm, drive a little while, and then leave the rest for tomorrow? That would probably make sense since I spent last night catching a few winks between the train horns that blew every half hour. I wasn't exactly feeling too energetic by the time that assignment came through. Leaving a lot of miles for tomorrow would force me to burn up tomorrow's 11 and 14 hour clocks before I could get another assignment though.
Or pick it up and drive all the way to Houston tonight, sleeping tomorrow before getting unloaded? That would leave my log book in the best position to make some more money for myself and the new brotherhood after I was empty. I really had nowhere to park in Houston though, and the delivery is a scheduled one for 6:30pm. I was the sixth of six CTL trucks making this trip tonight. The other guys had scheduled delivery times ahead of mine, one every hour. No point in arriving more than an hour or two ahead of schedule then, since I'm probably not getting unloaded anyway.
For today's part, I decided to head straight to the shipper and take a shot at getting loaded a few hours early. Maybe I could cover some serious miles tonight without having to pull a complete all-nighter. The worst thing that could happen would be that they said no, right? I checked in and they sent me directly to a door. I took this as a good sign. Then... there's probably a wisecrack about union forklift drivers that could be inserted here, but I suppose they're just doing the job the way that they were taught. I think all of the recent news is making me bitter or something. In any case, I was there for a long time. It likely would have been worse if I had showed up at 8:30pm though. Good enough.
I took off down the highway and just figured I would stop whenever I felt tired and found a parking space. The tired part kicked in somewhere in the northern suburbs of Dallas. Parking there and then driving through town tomorrow seemed like a pretty dumb idea though. I got through Dallas and onto I-45, then started looking for the parking space to round out the plan. The first four truck stops and one rest area that I tried were all overfilled. The fifth truck stop had a spot for me. As a result of the quest for parking, I wound up covering the bulk of the trip tonight. I'll have about 140 miles left to drive once my break is over.
This week is sitting at 2,418 miles so far, with Friday and Saturday still to be determined. I would normally think that a 3,000 mile week would be a foregone conclusion. Last week I got 300 miles over the weekend though, so you know, chickens before they hatch and whatnot. For the second day in a row, I'll be something close to SOL for parking unless I get a pre-plan before I'm empty. It worked out fine today. Hopefully tomorrow will be the same.
Nobody kicked me out of the consignee's dock this morning so that was a good start. I never did get a pre-plan though. As the guys were taking the freight out of my trailer, I noticed that the parking lot behind the shopping center didn't seem to be filling up. I took this to be a good sign, as I would likely have a place to hang out once I was empty. I also had time for an awesome lunch at Applebee's before they were done unloading. That 10oz. burger is a beauty.
Once I was empty, I pulled off to the corner of the parking lot and hung out for a while. My next assignment came through later in the afternoon. This time around I was set to pick up in Sapulpa and then head down to Houston. My pick up was scheduled for 8:30pm. I would have plenty of time to take a ten hour break along the way and then make my scheduled delivery tomorrow at 6:30pm.
So what do I do there? Pick up at 8:30pm, drive a little while, and then leave the rest for tomorrow? That would probably make sense since I spent last night catching a few winks between the train horns that blew every half hour. I wasn't exactly feeling too energetic by the time that assignment came through. Leaving a lot of miles for tomorrow would force me to burn up tomorrow's 11 and 14 hour clocks before I could get another assignment though.
Or pick it up and drive all the way to Houston tonight, sleeping tomorrow before getting unloaded? That would leave my log book in the best position to make some more money for myself and the new brotherhood after I was empty. I really had nowhere to park in Houston though, and the delivery is a scheduled one for 6:30pm. I was the sixth of six CTL trucks making this trip tonight. The other guys had scheduled delivery times ahead of mine, one every hour. No point in arriving more than an hour or two ahead of schedule then, since I'm probably not getting unloaded anyway.
For today's part, I decided to head straight to the shipper and take a shot at getting loaded a few hours early. Maybe I could cover some serious miles tonight without having to pull a complete all-nighter. The worst thing that could happen would be that they said no, right? I checked in and they sent me directly to a door. I took this as a good sign. Then... there's probably a wisecrack about union forklift drivers that could be inserted here, but I suppose they're just doing the job the way that they were taught. I think all of the recent news is making me bitter or something. In any case, I was there for a long time. It likely would have been worse if I had showed up at 8:30pm though. Good enough.
I took off down the highway and just figured I would stop whenever I felt tired and found a parking space. The tired part kicked in somewhere in the northern suburbs of Dallas. Parking there and then driving through town tomorrow seemed like a pretty dumb idea though. I got through Dallas and onto I-45, then started looking for the parking space to round out the plan. The first four truck stops and one rest area that I tried were all overfilled. The fifth truck stop had a spot for me. As a result of the quest for parking, I wound up covering the bulk of the trip tonight. I'll have about 140 miles left to drive once my break is over.
This week is sitting at 2,418 miles so far, with Friday and Saturday still to be determined. I would normally think that a 3,000 mile week would be a foregone conclusion. Last week I got 300 miles over the weekend though, so you know, chickens before they hatch and whatnot. For the second day in a row, I'll be something close to SOL for parking unless I get a pre-plan before I'm empty. It worked out fine today. Hopefully tomorrow will be the same.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
3/4/09
Going to bed in the morning and getting up at noon seems to be a pretty effective way for me to get rest. Maybe I'm a vampire or something, but I seem to sleep much better in the morning than I do at night. In my line of work though, this schedule can sometimes have its drawbacks. I have to deliver this load tomorrow morning and the trip was 640 miles from Laredo to Edmond. So it required a full day on the road. By leaving Laredo in the afternoon and driving so many miles, I would essentially ensure that the truck stops in the Oklahoma City area would be overflowing by the time I got there.
I would have two options then. I could try for a less crowded parking area to the south of Oklahoma City or I could head straight to the consignee and hope for the best. I really hadn't given the situation much thought by the time I rolled through the southern part of Oklahoma. Fighting the morning traffic while looking for a consignee with which I wasn't familiar didn't sound too great. Parking at a loading dock when I have a 10am appointment and there may be trucks scheduled ahead of me wasn't exactly ideal either. Given the two choices, I think I would rather be parked for the night and then deal with getting kicked out if and when it happens. So straight to Edmond it was. I'm pretty damn glad that I got here tonight. I don't know exactly what kind of business this is, but it's in a little strip mall off a very busy street.
I couldn't see any addresses from that busy street. As I crept along at 10mph, I saw a tiny sign by the driveway entrance of the strip mall; "Trucks use south entrance." I had no idea at that point whether or not this was my destination. I had been expecting more of an industrial kind of building. At least the sign mentioned trucks though. If it wasn't the right place I could hope to find room to turn around. The parking lot along the street looked tiny and unwelcoming. As I turned into the south driveway, it didn't look much better. I followed a narrow alley along to the back of the building and, much to my relief, spotted some open space and loading docks to my right. I got out and walked to the front of the building to see if I could find an address or a sign or something. Like I said, the view as I drove down the street told me nothing. There was a door on the front of the building with a company logo on it. I was indeed at the right place and my day was done. Beauty.
I think this would be a pretty good time for the gods of pre-planning to pull something out of their hats. There doesn't appear to be anywhere nearby for me to park and wait for another assignment once I'm empty tomorrow. Without a pre-plan, I'm probably trekking across Oklahoma City to wait at one of the truck stops. Then, if history is a guide, there will be a pretty good chance that my next assignment will take me in the opposite direction. Not much I can do about that right now though so I guess it's time for bed.
I would have two options then. I could try for a less crowded parking area to the south of Oklahoma City or I could head straight to the consignee and hope for the best. I really hadn't given the situation much thought by the time I rolled through the southern part of Oklahoma. Fighting the morning traffic while looking for a consignee with which I wasn't familiar didn't sound too great. Parking at a loading dock when I have a 10am appointment and there may be trucks scheduled ahead of me wasn't exactly ideal either. Given the two choices, I think I would rather be parked for the night and then deal with getting kicked out if and when it happens. So straight to Edmond it was. I'm pretty damn glad that I got here tonight. I don't know exactly what kind of business this is, but it's in a little strip mall off a very busy street.
I couldn't see any addresses from that busy street. As I crept along at 10mph, I saw a tiny sign by the driveway entrance of the strip mall; "Trucks use south entrance." I had no idea at that point whether or not this was my destination. I had been expecting more of an industrial kind of building. At least the sign mentioned trucks though. If it wasn't the right place I could hope to find room to turn around. The parking lot along the street looked tiny and unwelcoming. As I turned into the south driveway, it didn't look much better. I followed a narrow alley along to the back of the building and, much to my relief, spotted some open space and loading docks to my right. I got out and walked to the front of the building to see if I could find an address or a sign or something. Like I said, the view as I drove down the street told me nothing. There was a door on the front of the building with a company logo on it. I was indeed at the right place and my day was done. Beauty.
I think this would be a pretty good time for the gods of pre-planning to pull something out of their hats. There doesn't appear to be anywhere nearby for me to park and wait for another assignment once I'm empty tomorrow. Without a pre-plan, I'm probably trekking across Oklahoma City to wait at one of the truck stops. Then, if history is a guide, there will be a pretty good chance that my next assignment will take me in the opposite direction. Not much I can do about that right now though so I guess it's time for bed.
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