7/15/09

Yeah, I'm gonna say it. I had to sleep last night but I saw the thing on YouTube this morning. They can just send Holder after me if that's what they have to do. I ain't skeered. The president throws like a little sissy girl. There, I said it. That feels better.

About the only positive about hitting the road at 1:15am was the fact that I got past Atlanta before 5am. I think I have been caught in a traffic jam every time I've passed that town during the usual commute this year, so it was nice to be able to cruise on through. The drive in general was a long and tedious affair though. 45,000 pounds in the wagon and one hill after another along the whole route.

I got to my consignee in High Point and parked out in front. My directions said that I should park in the street and then walk into the customer's lot to get a good look at the backing job that would lie ahead. Yeah, they weren't kidding. That place was a doozy. I had to pull through a gravel lot across the street (1), swing around into the customer's driveway (2), make a sharp turn to get pointed back in the direction from which I came (3), back in through their gate (4), turn my trailer around a corner and down a hill (5), and then straighten up into the dock (6).

I was feeling pretty fatigued at the time and the forklift guy said that my predecessor took a half hour getting backed in, so I was braced for a struggle. Surprisingly, I slung 'er in there in one motion. Like a real truck driver and stuff. Beauty. They had me unloaded quickly and then I had to make a decision. I could drive roughly a half hour in either direction to find a truck stop or I could park in the lot of one of the many unoccupied warehouses in the area of the consignee. I was #2 on the board at the time and my hours were running low. I suspected that this would mean I would be parked for a while, so a truck stop sounded like the best option. East or west then? I headed eastward to the T/A outside Greensboro, since we pick up a lot of freight from the Durham area. My next load will now come from somewhere west of here, of course, but what are you gonna do?

The corollary to the 70 hour rule having forced me to start at 1:15am was that the 14 hour rule would prevent me from working past 3:15pm. The 14 hour end of the deal turned out to be a non-issue though, as 3:15pm has long since passed and I never moved from #2 on the board. I have an hour and a half available to me, with another 2.75 hours coming available after midnight. Maybe the planner dudes will be able to make use of those hours tomorrow and maybe they won't. I don't know. Then I start picking up more than eleven hours a day through the weekend, so this week's pay could still manage to be decent. We'll see.