8/9/09

The small victories just keep on coming. The last time I was home, I took a survey for some company. They were asking "transportation professionals" to answer some questions about travel plazas. I do get paid for my work. Therefore I am, technically speaking, a professional. I checked a few boxes, entered my address, and dropped the survey in a mailbox, expecting nothing more than to be added to someone's junk mailing list. I was supposedly entered into some kind of drawing as thanks for my participation, but we all know that nobody actually wins those drawings, right? Hey, look at that, I won a $25 Visa gift card. I'll be damned.

I got up bright and early this morning and made the trip across to Temperance. I wasn't on a numbered route, but I wasn't too worried about it since I was out in the sticks. All those roads are made for tractors and shit, or so I thought. Yeah, so I thought. 25 ton weight limit, eh? Oh well, not exactly anything you can do once you're already heading down the road. Onward we go. I got to the consignee without incident and checked in with the security guard. Closed for the weekend but I can drop anyway, eh? So I could have slept as late as I wanted to, eh? Or I could have gotten rid of the load last night, eh? Oh well, at least I got to head out for that delicious BOGO steak deal in Dundee last night.

After making my drop/hook, I called the Taylor terminal to see what was what. I was #24 on the board and nowhere near any truck stop. The dispatcher said that it was up to me. I could stay down there or I could head back to the terminal, but either way I wasn't going to have another assignment until tomorrow. Gee, let me think about that one. Go home and take the day off or park my ass somewhere out in the boondocks? Tough call. I cruised up Telegraph to Eureka and then turned onto Racho toward the yard. What the...? Apparently there was some kind of trucking convention in Taylor this weekend and I never got the memo. There were exactly zero open slots for me to drop my trailer. There were exactly zero open slots for me to park my truck. There were at least a dozen additional trucks, four of them with trailers, parked out in the middle of the yard. What the...? I've seen that yard crowded before. I've never seen anything like this morning.

After I sat and caught up my logbook, packed up my overnight bag, and other such menial tasks, someone pulled out from a slot on the north side of the yard. Okay then. Trailer dropped. One down, one to go. Since I still had nowhere to put my truck, I parked by the vacuum and gave my floor a thorough scrubbing. By the time this was done, a couple of trucks had left the bobtail parking area. Truck parked, homeward bound. Beauty.

One tends to gather quite a bit of unopened mail after a couple of months on the road, so I had to spend a little time sifting through all that. The highlight, of course, was my $25 Visa gift card. Woohoo! Otherwise though, just a peaceful and lazy day. 'Much-needed rest,' I think they call it. Tigers won. White Sox lost. I've moved from #24 to #19 on the board. Hopefully I don't shoot up too fast tomorrow morning. It would be pretty nice if I got a chance to renew my driver's license before heading out. My birthday is next month so I'll have to deal with those Secretary of State peckerheads sooner or later.

I do think I'm supposed to win another award for staying home and relaxing, rather than heading out and carousing. I did have to make a trip to my parents' house and retrieve a couple of packages, but otherwise today has been all about the R&R. The authors of the 70 hour rule should be pleased. Maybe I'll get another $25 gift card... or something.