12/20/07

Here's some shocking news: I didn't sleep worth a shit last night. Thus, I was a little tired along the drive to Illinois. I left early enough that I had time for a nap along the way, so that worked out okay for me.

I arrived at the customer and was delighted to see a wicked tight dock, on my right, facing a street. Beauty. I had no desire to tackle that thing from the blind side, so I cruised through a residential neighborhood and went around a couple of blocks to get set up facing the other direction. I don't imagine that this was completely legal, but it ain't a crime if you don't get caught. Even from the left, it took me a while to get settled in without hitting the truck next to me. He had arrived the night before and gone to sleep, so he got the easier of the two open docks. Of course, the largely deserted road turned into Fifth Avenue at rush hour as soon as I blocked it with my trailer. Story of life out here.

When the customer opened for business, I was unloaded quickly. I had noticed a few trucks parked at the local WalMart on my way into town, so I headed over there and hopped in bed for a spell. After a few hours of sleep I got my beep. I honestly didn't know what planet I was on when the thing went off. I was looking around, wondering if I had missed an appointment. The sense of relief when I realized that I was already empty and just waiting for work was quite immense.

My next run is a ConWay load, leaving Gary, Indiana tomorrow morning and heading for Salt Lake City. The directions say that SLC is a 24/7 drop/hook location, so I'll have some flexibility to get there whenever I want to this weekend. Now it's just a matter of killing time until morning. The deadhead over here was only 60 miles, so again my pay period is off to a slow start. I started on home time, then spent a day on the board, then got a couple of fairly short runs, then this short deadhead. The run to SLC is over 1,400 miles so that will hopefully get me kick-started. Last year I was on the road through Christmas and New Year. I got pretty huge miles during that time. Since I just got a restart at home a couple of days ago, I'll be poised to run a lot of miles over the next several days. We'll see how it goes.

12/19/07

Pretty slow going across the bridge after midnight, but otherwise it was a nice simple three hour trip to Canada. The customer was right off the highway, so I was checked in and docked before I knew it. The forklift guy pulled most of the freight from my trailer and then sent me to a different dock to get rid of the rest of it. I couldn't find anyone with whom to check in over there, so I taped the bills to a post and hopped in the bunk. Screw 'em. I was tired. The guy at the first dock told me it might be "a while" until they got to me at the second one, so I wasn't in the mood to stand around with my thumb up my ass.

A few hours later, a dude came out and knocked on my door. I rolled down the window and he asked, "What can we do for you?" Umm, unload my trailer, maybe? He said it was all unloaded and he was just wondering what I was picking up. Nope, not picking up sir, just delivering. So I sent in my empty call and immediately got my next assignment.

Fucking 'need to know basis' bullshit. I was picking up at the same dock and heading to Illinois. Only, by this time, the guy had taken off because I told him I wasn't picking up anything. So it took a half hour to track him down and fill him in. He was visibly annoyed, since he was ready to load me when he came out in the first place. Yeah, take a number dude.

The shipper didn't have a fax for me to use, so I had to stop in at the Flying J in London. I sent in my customs paperwork and headed west. I let the Taylor terminal know that I would be stopping at the Pilot in Tilbury to pick up their return fax. What a convoluted bunch of bureaucratic bullshit that whole system is. If everything is electronic, why in the hell do we need to stop and pick up a fax? Is the barcode truly the be and end all of modern technology? Are the customs agents no longer capable of typing an entry number into their computers? Stupid. I sat at the Pilot for about an hour before I got my fax. This was a marked improvement over the eight hours I sat the first time I had to do this song and dance. Then on to the bridge... at shift change. Beauty.

By the time I got across, my 14 hour clock was toast. So I'm taking my break at the terminal. I thought about heading home, but sometimes a ten hour break at home is really more trouble than it's worth. I'm feeling pretty sluggish right now, so some sleep will hopefully find its way to me soon.

Today has me thinking that I am probably going to stick with my original decision to forego Canada loads in 2008. I have gone back and forth regarding whether or not I want to take Canada loads in the future, but I tend to think the answer is 'no.' The biggest downside to turning down the 'option' for Canada loads is that I'll miss out on a few chances to stop by home on the way up there. I get through home every couple of months or so, irrespective of actual home time, by virtue of Canada-bound freight. I don't know. Maybe I'll change my mind. For now though, I'm perfectly content to let someone else deal with that shit.

12/18/07

Well, what will be today's cliche? How about 'beggars can't be choosers'? Yeah, that will work.

I got my truck back from Kenworth this afternoon and went on the board. #5. Okay, not so bad. Then 2pm turned into 10:30pm and here I sat. Just about the time I was about to write the day off as a complete loss, I got a call from the terminal. I have a load sitting on the yard, delivering to somewhere in Ontario between midnight and 4am. Awesome. 156 miles, middle of the night, short notice, freaking Canada... just awesome.

But hey, at least it will get me out of town for the time being. Better than nothing. Now you'll have to excuse me, as I have to go to work.

12/17/07

First things first - over to Kenworth. They told me that the truck should be ready some time tomorrow. Then I called for my ride home... and my buddy's phone was shut off. Try another person; working. Try another; no answer. Try another; working. Try another; car won't start. Finally my mother came and got me on her lunch break. Moms can always take care of everything, can't they?

Then I wrapped up a little personal shopping before taking a nice nap. I've been coughing incessantly at night lately, so I'm sleeping even less than normal. Back awake in the early evening, it was over to Mom's house for dinner.

Apparently she called everyone and put together an impromptu Christmas party. My sister brought the kids over. My brothers were there. Pretty cool. My niece is four years old, so any opportunity to open a few presents from Uncle Joe before Christmas is good news for her.

So that was that. Back to work tomorrow.