Not today though. The mud flap issue came up right at the beginning of the day. On the left side of my trailer, the bracket that holds the mud flap is bent downward. This causes the mud flap to run pretty close to the ground. Why would I care, right? As long as it's there to flap the mud or whatever, it's fine with me. Ahh yes, but this morning's consignee had these wooden planks set up to lift the trailer as it is backed into the dock, bringing the trailer and the dock to the same level. As my trailer rolled up onto the wood, the aforementioned mud flap got caught between my left tire and the planks. Bye bye mud flap. Shit.
As the trailer was unloaded, the forklift guy was taking a lot of time checking each of the metal barrels full of some kind of resin. Apparently the shipper in Michigan has a tendency to send barrels on which the sides have begun to cave in. The resin stuff is quite heavy and, once the structural integrity of the barrel has been compromised, issues can arise. One pallet after another, he stopped and checked each barrel. Mine were all good... until the last. One barrel on the 19th pallet had the exact hourglass shape to which the guy was referring. No big deal on my end though. He took a picture while it was still in the trailer, wrote a note on the bills, and asked me to put my initials next to the note. Sure thing, dude. There was no leaking product and the shipper is aware of the issue, so as far as I know there are no problems concerning me or my employer.
By the time my trailer was empty and I got back out to my truck, I had a new assignment waiting for me. I had to make a quick hop over to the manly sounding town of Warminster, Pennsylvania and pick up a load headed for Cincinnati. The drive over was easy and the shipper worked quickly. To add to the good news, I only got 11,000 pounds of cargo this time around. That's a nice break from the heavy ones that I've been dragging around lately.
It's my understanding that there is a television show called It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I've never seen the show, but I can assure you that it is most definitely not always sunny in Philadelphia. Today would be a bad day for me to make my case though. It was 40° and, yes, quite sunny. As I rolled westward along the turnpike, things were looking good for quite a while. Dry roads, temperatures in the mid 30's, light traffic. This held true for the whole stretch on the east side of the mountains. On the west side, not so much. The temperature plunged rapidly and the snow started falling, gradually at first. The further I drove, the worse it got. I'm no meteorologist but I'm guessing that I was running head-on into a winter storm. You know, with the whole west-to-east weather thing and so forth. The roads weren't too terrible across the rest of Pennsylvania and into West Virginia. There was some accumulation but it was manageable. The motorists, on the other hand... So I ducked into the truck stop in Valley Grove, West Virginia and called it a night.
My delivery in Cincinnati is scheduled for 2am on Saturday and I can't arrive early. This will present it's own set of annoying circumstances once I'm empty, but for now it means that I have all kinds of time to kill. I never did get a new mud flap today so that will be on tomorrow's agenda. Otherwise all I had to do was find a place to watch the football game tonight. Once the weather compelled me to stop here, I assumed that I wouldn't have much luck in that regard. You know, West Virginia and mountains and all. My internet speed here is surprisingly swift though, so I guess we're in luck.
I have around 240 miles to cover between here and Cincinnati. My instructions specify that I absolutely cannot arrive more than a half hour early. And the weather tomorrow is probably going to be pretty similar to the weather today. That is to say - I have no idea how long it will take to get across Ohio. So we'll just see how the timing works out. If I hang around here until 2pm, then my 14 hour clock will carry me to 4am. With a 2am appointment, this should at least take care of getting the freight to Cincinnati and getting unloaded. I can head out in the afternoon and then, once I get a feel for how the traffic is moving, take a break in Ohio before finishing the trip. Then, after I'm empty, I'll be in the unenviable position of trying to find somewhere to park in a major city in the middle of the night. Hopefully someone at the consignee will have a bright idea for me.
The unusual timing of this run will leave my weekly mileage in limbo until we see what else might come along. I can finish a ten hour break in Cincinnati by early Saturday afternoon, so there's still a chance that the week won't be a total debacle. I seem to recall a few customers that ship freight from Ohio to Laredo on the weekend. Something like that would do the trick. I also seem to recall sitting with my thumb up my ass and waiting for work during a good portion of last winter. I guess we won't get too far ahead of ourselves though. As our friend Doris Day might say - Que sera, sera.
We do have some good news for Presidente Calderón this evening. I'm thinking something along the lines of Texas 17, Alabama 13 sounds about right. I'm still not sure what 'Roll Tide' really means, but I'd definitely rather roll with Elisha.
Visits to this here blog dohickie.
{Getting this one in ahead of the inevitable}
ReplyDeleteI don't often get the chance to address foreign dignitaries, Señor Calderón, so I'll just get right to the point and say that you're welcome. I can pick losers with the best of 'em, so I'm glad I could help.
If you'll indulge me for just a moment though, I will direct your attention to a comment that was not made relating to any particular game. You know, for what it's worth.
The Mexican People appreciate your apparently rabid support of Texas. The starting QB goes down(The Mexican people wish him the best, of course, with no permanent injuries) immediately? What did you do, hold a prayer vigil? My goodness what a postive outcome! Gracias, mi amigo, gracias. The next time you run for the border in Nuevo Laredo, you will be a given a 50% discount on any required police bribes. Thanks for thinking outside the bun!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Texas freshman Garrett Gilbert is going to be incredible in a few years. That kid did an amazing job with very little experience and tons of talent. I have noted with interest that Alabama's QB is from Texas as well. Perhaps there is something in the water? Could be Notre Dame needs to focus their recruiting efforts there for any future QB needs.
It was the noted American poet Jay Z who once said, "I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one." In a similar vein, I'll note that my Irish have 99 problems of their own, but a quarterback ain't one.
ReplyDeleteJimmy Clausen was the best in the country as far as I'm concerned. Brady Quinn had a rather impressive career of his own. Dayne Crist has a better arm and more mobility than either of the two (pending recovery from a kneee injury). So, as long as he can read a defense, I think he'll be fine.
No, those guys in Indiana need to work on getting a better front seven on the defensive side. The issue may be that defensive tackles and the like are not really the smartest dudes on the field. At Notre Dame the players have to take real classes and graduate and all of that silly stuff. They can still find a few good ones, but it takes a hell of a recruiter to navigate the landmines. I'm not convinced that the new coaching staff is quite cut out for the job, but hopefully they can surprise me.