8/3/09

Viva los Tigres! Down 5-0 after half an inning and they came all the way back to win it on a walkoff homer. Sweet.

I can't exactly say that I know the ins and outs of the business side of this trucking gig, but it sure does seem to me that the miles have been better this summer than they were in my first two summers. Perhaps the people in charge did a masterful job of adjusting the fleet size to business conditions or something. Or perhaps I've just found myself in the right place at the right time. I don't know. Hell, it's entirely possible that my perception was merely re-calibrated by all the sitting around that I did earlier in the year.

On the way to El Paso this morning, I received a pre-plan for a load picking up at another customer in town and heading up to the Midwest. Beauty. At the consignee, the situation could best be described as a mess. There were two active loading docks, both occupied. Other trucks were parked along the side of the building, backed in parallel to the aforementioned loading docks. Nowhere for me to back in though, so I had to park in front of the other trucks and then shift around whenever someone came or went. This game certainly came to mind...


By the time my turn came around, a few of the other trucks had cleared out, so I guess our little puzzle board there would have had 21 tiles instead of 24. That was helpful, but the backing job to reach the loading dock was still a tricky one. I was equal to the challenge this time around though, unlike at the shipper in San Antonio.

Once I was empty, I sent in my forms and waited for the details on that pre-planned load. Anything but the copper company, I thought to myself. The information started to come across the satellite. Copper company. Bummer. They gave me ten minutes to get across town, so I sent in the "ain't gonna happen" message and headed over there. I got a reply saying that it was no big deal and I had an extra half hour. That's nice.

With my 44,000 pound payload nailed down and ready to roll, it was time to head toward Indiana. I headed up US-54 into New Mexico and took a look at my log book. Yeah, that damned 70 hour rule is gonna get me again before it's all said and done on this one. I was hoping that I could knock out the trip by Wednesday night, ahead of an 8am Thursday delivery. Alas, I only had somewhere around 21 total hours left between today and the next two days. I'll have to shut down early Wednesday and then leave after midnight... again. Maybe this is why I think I've been busier this summer. Every time I have a few hours to burn, they seem to get burned.

I ducked off at the T/A in Santa Rosa to call it a night. I have a little over 1,300 miles to go from here and 17.5 hours available for the next two days. When you take out time for fuel stops and inspections and such, it looks like I'll end up with a fairly long overnighter to make the delivery on Thursday. Oh well. I'm a truck driver. This is what I do... or something.