10/12/09

We're gonna switch up the routine a little tonight. In honor of Columbus Day, I think it's high time we made use of some internet maps. Ole Christoffa might actually have made his way to India if he had these nifty services available to him. In any event, I'm in the mood for a change of pace.

So the day began with a quick trip over to the consignee in Wallingford. I knew from my directions that I would have to back into their gate from the road. No room to turn around inside the lot and so forth. When I arrived this morning, I saw that the aforementioned gate was on my blindside, natch. (Yeah, I'm still using MS Paint because I don't know how to use anything else. At least I color coded the curves though; Red is reverse on this one.)




After an hour and a half at the dock I was empty, so I headed back down to the rest area on I-91. See how it almost looks like you can barely squeeze a truck in there and then you'll have a hell of a time getting out? Yeah, that's because you can barely squeeze a truck in there and then you have a hell of a time getting out.




I was #1 on the board, so it should come as no surprise that I had my next assignment within an hour or so. I had to drive up to Watervliet, New York and grab a load headed for Cleveland. The trip up I-91 and then across the turnpikes was quick and simple. Then I took I-787 up to my exit and hung a left. The next step was a right turn. Without getting too specific, we'll say that the turn involved one or more of the following: Me cursing at motorists; motorists cursing at me; the light changing once or twice while people jockeyed to get out of my way; and the slight (but unconfirmed) possibility of a little curb-hopping action by my trailer. Hypothetically speaking, if the trailer had been forced to ride a little grass, it would have been a damn good thing that the utility poles weren't right on the corner. I'm just sayin'.




Okay then, on to the next step in the directions. Go down two streets and hang a left. I guess, even with the wonders of modern photography, you'll have to use your imagination for a second here. In addition to what you see in the next picture, try to include parked cars along each street and a shit-ton of traffic in all four directions. (Semi-amusing side note: The CTL driver who was a few minutes ahead of me actually didn't manage to make this left. There was a line of traffic blocking her turn, with a big truck at the end of the line. After blocking the intersection for a little while, she had to drive straight through and then wait for a cop to come and escort her along a different route.) As for me, I'm a little less polite, it would seem. I made those bastards get out of my way. A few backed up and a few others cut into that gas station on the corner, but make that freaking turn I did.




A few blocks down, I hung a right and checked in with the shipping people. They were aware of the order for which I had been sent. They were not aware, however, that I was being sent for it. The guy in charge of the operation seemed to have been under the impression that they would be delivering the freight themselves. (The shipper for this load is a logistics/warehousing outfit with its own fleet of trucks.) I had to wait a while as they sorted out the how and why of it all. Then they assigned me to a dock.

For reference, there were trucks with sleeper cabs in both of the docks that appear occupied in the following picture. I was given the honor of backing in between them, to the spot where you can see the front of a dropped trailer. I suppose that you can see the remnants of railroad tracks and other oddities from this photo, but the camera angle is still too high to do justice to the uneven terrain. It took some slow, careful maneuvering and a few stops to get out and look, but I got 'er in there without incident. Fair enough.




It took a couple more hours for my trailer to be loaded and for me to be sent on my way. So the last several scenarios that you see pictured here had to be repeated in the other direction. First I had to extricate myself from the loading dock without taking a door off my trailer. Then the tight left became a tight right and the tight right became a tight left and so on, until I got back to the freeway. Making those busy intersections more entertaining was the 41,000 pound albatross now around my neck, keeping me from moving in any direction very quickly. I think I'm due for a few light loads pretty soon here.

In summary, I guess you could say that this truck driving shit ain't always a piece of cake. Usually it's pretty easy, but not always. Days like today are bound to pop up every now and then. And these are the days when we say... come on now, you know the words... I'm a professional... or something. I was able to get to the service plaza before Rochester, on the Thruway, before my 14 hour clock ran out for the day. Looks like about four and a half hours or so left from here.

Unfortunately it looks like I may be doing some pro driving tomorrow too. My consignee is one of these Menlo customers for which Con-way doesn't yet have a complete customer profile. I'll be looking for 7201 Father Caruso Drive in Cleveland. The address is not on any map, as far as I can see, but the road itself (Father Caruso Drive) does show up on all of the mapping sites. You could reasonably deduce that the 7201 address would fall somewhere between 70th and 73rd then. So... this place maybe?



Honestly, I'm pretty skeptical about that possibility. I have 41,000 pounds of polystyrene pellets in my trailer. To me, that little shithole building doesn't look like it would have much use for 41,000 pounds of polystyrene pellets. The numerous satellite and photo images of the neighborhood show the section immediately to the west (to the right of the picture above) under varying stages of construction. Hopefully whatever is or was being built over there will be of some use to me. If not, I have a feeling that this other place on 78th Street may come into play somehow. It's not the consignee listed on my bills but it is a plastics company, and its warehouse complex looks a little more sizable. I'm sure it can't be all that hard to get from 73rd to 78th, if that's what ends up being necessary. Residential neighborhoods seem to be par for the course on this trip.


Plastics?