5/26/09

You know what I really like about my job? I like the fact that I can make a hundred dumb decisions every day and, more often than not, those dumb decisions don't affect anyone but me. When other people make dumb decisions on the other hand...

I can't figure out any logical reason that I was sent to that ConWay yard on the northwest side of Houston yesterday. We've already covered the fact that they were closed. Now we can add the little tidbit that they only have two CTL trailers in their tiny little yard at a time - exactly the number that they need, incidentally. So the decision to have me drive over there was a dumb one.

UPS - no empties. ConWay - no empties. So, where to next? I got the distinct pleasure of driving down to the other side of Houston during the morning rush hour. Supposedly they always have a lot of empty trailers. 20 mile drive... 55 minutes. Sweet. Yeah, they didn't have any empties either. Dumb.

Fourth time is the charm, or something like that. From the second ConWay yard I was sent to another trucking company that does some local work in the Houston area on our behalf. The lady in charge was exceedingly pleasant and she gave me the number of an empty that I could take. The trailer was nice and clean inside just for good measure. And the gal was kinda cute. Good deal.

So, after a day and a half of nonsense, I was finally ready to head to the shipper in La Porte and pick up my next load. That place is a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes but today wasn't too terrible. Setting aside the long line of trucks waiting to get in, things seemed to be fairly efficient today. I got my 42,000 pounds of plastic and hit the road before too long. Ohio, here we come.

The paid 'practical' miles out of the Houston area to the Midwest tend to reflect a route up US-59 to Arkansas and then across to Memphis. Every truck routing program that I have ever seen lists the 'practical' route as going across Louisiana and then up I-55 to Memphis. I usually run up US-59 anyway, so it doesn't amount to a big issue. It's just odd that I can't seem to find a program listing the 'practical' route as the one for which I'm getting paid. It's like they have some magical mystery dispatch program or something. Anyhow, I'm getting sidetracked. Since the load is so heavy and I had my fill of traffic earlier in the day, I decided to take the all-interstate route and headed eastward on I-10. That's all I was trying to say.

By the time I got to Mississippi I was feeling pretty hungry and bored, so that was that for today. There's a big old truck stop at Exit 42. My delivery is set for Friday morning so I've left myself two days of 7-8 hours on the road from here. That should work pretty well for me.

So I heard those wacky North Koreans are defying UN resolutions again. Who would have figured? But it's almost like I've seen this episode before... [Content Warning: Not safe for work]