7/6/09

And so it comes full circle. I was spared a trip to the People's Republic last week on account of an illegally loaded trailer in Laredo. Then I had a pre-planned assignment that ostensibly would take me back eastward after I delivered in Nogales. That load never made it across the border, so now I'm once again bound for California. This load weighs about five hundred pounds though, so I don't think we'll be having any axle issues.

Under our antiquated layover system, I am entitled to a whopping $60 any time that I'm on the board for at least 48 hours. So after waking this afternoon and finding that my assigned trailer was nowhere to be found, I took note of the fact that my 48 hours would be up before long. In my 45th hour I was re-assigned. Yeah, go figure. A mere coincidence, no doubt.

My newly assigned trailer was among the twelve on the list that I sent to the bosses on Saturday evening. Anyone who has spent a weekend at one of our border drop lots can tell you that this is hardly a surprise. There seems to be some kind of statutory requirement that we can't get an early start with loads that are sitting on the lot. They have to sit there for a while and we have to sit there right next to them. In this weekend's case I had a pre-plan, which changes the narrative slightly, but that didn't exactly work out either. Usually we'll be on the board for a day or so and then they'll tell us to pick up a trailer that has been there the whole time. In any event, I was given my new assignment today and I got all hooked up and ready to go.

One quick thing to do first though. I needed to go to another broker down the street and pick up a check before I could leave Nogales. I've never had a C.O.D. load before, but it didn't seem like a complicated issue. (Doesn't the 'D' stand for 'delivery' though? I guess 'C.O.P.' might have been too confusing.) I went over to the other broker and checked in with the guys in the office. Not surprisingly, they had no idea what I was talking about. Come on guys. People don't always stop by and ask you for a few thousand dollars, for loads that have nothing to do with you? So I had to exchange a handful of phone calls with my fleet manager, who then had to exchange a handful of calls with our customer service people, who then had to exchange a handful of calls with whomever they are inclined to contact.

First step - make sure I was at the right place... Yep. Next step - find some dude named Mario... Nobody named Mario here. Next - confirm that I'm at the right place... Yep, and I'll do you one better. I'm at the Valencia Warehouse (as directed) and I happen to be speaking with Jose Valencia (the owner). How 'bout them apples? Next - let the guys at the warehouse know that I don't need a check directly from them. Rather they're supposed to be holding a check from some other company to give to me... Nope.

I went out to my truck and hung out for a while. After hearing nothing further from anybody, I sent a message via satellite and asked if the folks in Joplin had any news. No sooner did I push 'send' than a guy came walking out of the warehouse with a check in his hand. It was dated June 16th and printed out for the exact amount that I had been told to collect. He asked if I was going to California and if I would be able to make it by tomorrow. I guess you could say that he seemed pretty well-informed. But nobody knew anything about the damned check the first five times I asked? Weird. Maybe it showed up in today's mail or something. I don't know.

The delays had left me with some hard driving to do. My load was set to deliver in Hollister, California by 4pm tomorrow. I had enough time to make it, but getting past the L.A. area and enduring the double-nickel routine for half the trip wouldn't leave me a whole lot of wiggle room. A few minutes after my dispatch I received a message saying that the consignee couldn't take the load at 4pm tomorrow and that my appointment had been changed to 9am Wednesday. Good enough then. With the new schedule and a little more flexibility, I decided to stop in Quartzsite for the night and avoid the environmental Gestapo for at least one more day. It's hard to reconcile the notion that we want well-rested drivers on our highways with the notion that it was 100º when the sun went down and we can't idle our trucks in the People's Republic.

I'll have a pretty long day of driving tomorrow, but I think I've had plenty of rest over the last couple of days. My directory says that there's a truck stop with a medium lot in Hollister. As long as I don't drag my feet too much in the morning, I imagine I can get there early enough to snag a spot. These people do operate on that weird Pacific Time, you know. Think I should try to scalp a ticket?