7/1/09

Could it really be possible for me to be disappointed not to be heading to California? Probably not. Well, maybe a little. Nah, not really.

My drive down to Laredo this morning was just a basic one-hour affair. I got on the board at #11 and headed down the street to the broker. Live unload this time around instead of a drop. Groovy. The forklift guy had me on my way before too long and I headed back to the yard.

After going back through the inspection bay with my empty trailer, I got lectured by the maintenance supervisor. He asked if I knew that the trailer's DOT bumper was dented. Yes. Then he asked if it was like that when I picked up the trailer. Yes. Then he asked if I had called our safety department to report it. No. I need to report these things right away so I won't be held liable for the cost of the damage, yada yada yada, blah blah blah. I actually did call both the road service department and the safety department the first time I got a trailer with a dented bumper, a few years ago. Anyone wanna guess if they gave a shit? As long as it wasn't broken or loose, I was told, no big deal. This was the standard that I followed from that point forward - dents were no big deal. Now apparently a dented bumper is cause for alarm. Whatever dude. They would need to add a few extra phone lines to handle the volume if we were really going to call the safety department about every minor dent and ding in the trailers that we pick up.

After a few hours on the board I got called to the dispatch window. San Antonio for tomorrow morning or Mira Loma, California for Friday afternoon. There's a freaking devil's bargain, eh? I took the California run and headed out to grab my loaded trailer. I had to move the trailer axles forward to get within the 40' maximum wheelbase allowed in California. The load was a heavy one, so I made sure to scale it before I left the yard. Shit. 30,060 pounds up front and 35,000 on the back. I was right on the 40' mark with my rear axle, so there was nothing that I could do to move any weight forward. Back on the board we go then.

I don't know how the company deals with that issue. Maybe they have someone take some freight off the trailer or maybe they just try to pawn it off on another driver who thinks he can get away with it. One of the old guys at the terminal was trying to explain how I could take this route and that route and the cops at the scales wouldn't bother me. Yeah, not like the People's Republic needs the money or anything. No thanks dude. I'll stick with the legal loads for now.

I wound up with a run heading to Lufkin, Texas for a delivery tomorrow afternoon. 1,364 miles lost and 470 gained doesn't sound so hot. I will be empty on Thursday as opposed to Friday, but I don't imagine I'll be running 894 miles in that extra day. I can't say that I'm terribly worried about it though. Holiday weekends are always unpredictable anyway. If I can get some decent work for the weekend and stay away from California, I'll consider the outcome to be a good one.

I headed up US-59 toward Houston once I had my new loaded trailer. I wasn't really sure how far I would drive but that usually seems to work itself out. As I got further into the evening, I found that my 14 hours would likely run out when I was just north of Houston. That's a pretty crowded area and there are no sure bets for parking so I decided to stop short of Houston instead. I don't know exactly what would be the English translation for El Campo. Sounds like 'the campground' to me, so I'm camping here for the night.