2/7/08

I make no secret of the fact that I am relatively clueless about trucking in general, and trucks in particular. I did, however, spend the bulk of my pre-driving life as a very successful businessman. The terminology and objectives may change, but smart business is just smart business. I'm having a tough time biting my tongue right now, but I'm hanging in there.

I took the shuttle from the motel to the Kenworth dealer this morning. Apparently the shuttle driver provides rides around Laredo to his family and friends, in addition to transporting motel guests, so the ride that took ten minutes last night was an hour today. I got a call from my fleet manager asking me how the truck was coming along, but I had no answer since I hadn't made it back to the dealership yet.

I hung out in the lounge at the dealership all day. At some point this evening, they moved my truck out to a parking space. Nobody thought it would be a good idea to tell me, but luckily that's exactly what I expected. Thus, I was checking on my truck every fifteen minutes or so. I talked to the guy at the counter, who handed me the keys and said the following: "It's probably not fixed. We were told by CFI that the truck is being sold and they don't want to sink a bunch of money into it. Hopefully you can make it to Joplin or something." That's a direct quote. Can anybody name the individual who suggested that CTL just bring me to Joplin two nights ago? It's just simple business, regardless of the industry, but it takes them two days of wasted time to reach that conclusion. Dumb. Then there was more.

I got back to the terminal and called the shop in Joplin. I needed a reimbursement number for my motel room, plus I wanted to see what bright ideas they had for me now. "If you have that kind of problem, your next load will probably go right through here." Are you fucking kidding me? Did I not just spend five minutes explaining that this truck isn't cut out for pulling loads and it hasn't been fixed? I asked if they could just bobtail me to Joplin. "I have no idea about that." Dumb. Yeah but hey, thanks for the reimbursement number.

So I told the story again, this time to the dispatcher at the terminal. Any chance of bobtailing to Joplin? "No, I can't do that." Well who in the fuck is going to have the problem when this truck dies on the side of the freeway? Not me. "I'll try to get you a light load." Anyone want to take bets on whether or not that was a straight-up lie? I'll throw my money on the side that says that guy won't be there when my turn comes up, and nobody will have any knowledge of our conversation. It's not only my time that has been wasted here for two days, by the way. A truck that isn't moving is a dead expense. This could have all been done by now. No motel expense, no dealership expense, no idling expense. Simple business is not the way they handle things in Joplin. They have to think about shit and waste money, then maybe they end up with the right conclusion or maybe they don't. Dumb.

So I'm #33 on the board. I asked the dispatcher if I was highlighted for Joplin and he said "yes" without looking at his computer screen. I'm biting my tongue and letting the people in charge run their company, but my patience is being tested. If I'm not out of here by tonight or tomorrow morning, my pay will become more of an issue and then we might have some words. Whatever man, I'm going to watch a movie.

2/6/08

My first car was a 1981 Oldsmobile 98 Regency. I sold it when I went to college. My dad fixed the little stuff that broke, but I had no real problems with that car. The back seat was awesome, but I'm just sayin'... When I moved back to Michigan, I bought a 1989 Mustang. That car was a piece of shit. After I spent as much money getting that damn thing repaired as I did to buy it, I swore that I would never buy another used car. Yes, I am now very cynical about mechanics. If it weren't for the fact that I'm completely illiterate when it comes to cars, I would tend to think that CTL was being taken for a ride tonight.

I drove over to the broker this morning and made my drop. Nothing special there. I did find it amusing that my truck showed absolutely no symptoms of the last few days' troubles. Our terminal sits on a road with a 60mph speed limit, so I floored it once I left the driveway. All good. Strong acceleration, no worries. Weird. Then I headed over to the Kenworth dealer.

I was hoping they would get me in quickly. They did. Less than 20 minutes in fact. I was further hoping to get back to the terminal and get on the board this afternoon. I didn't. The mechanics worked on my truck, off and on, all damn day. I hung out, played some computer games, watched some movies (Babel sucked ass, Trainspotting was decent), and waited for them to release my truck. Nope. I write to you this evening from the Corleone family's Texas estate, located in room 272 at the Family Garden Inn and Suites. They say my truck will be ready tomorrow, so there's still a good shot to get something good before the week wraps up.

The dealership had torches and grinders and all kinds of crazy shit going this afternoon. My instinct was that they were taking CTL for a few extra bucks, but like I said I don't know shit about trucks. They're saying it has a "fucked up" (their words, not mine) exhaust system, but what do I know? I do find it amusing that the damn truck could have just behaved long enough for one more trip and this wouldn't have been my issue at all. Such is life. If it's good to go tomorrow I'll be okay.

The hotel that the dealer, as well as CTL, told me to use is a pretty nice one. There's a courtyard with fountains and shit, so I managed to grab another bunch of those... err... iced teas... and hang out on the balcony for a while. I think that was good. My life is definitely short on serenity. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

2/5/08

Oh, my poor truck. It's a fighter, but the poor thing is just struggling. The past couple days every overpass looked like Mount Everest. As if that weren't bad enough, today I had a 40mph headwind that forced the truck to use the turbo boost to maintain anything above 55mph. Bad, bad, bad day. I called road service on the way and they're having me go to the Kenworth dealer in Laredo after I drop this trailer in the morning. I told them that I could bobtail to Joplin if that made things any better. They said that they would have to fix the truck either way before it is traded, so it's better to be safe and get the work done here. Makes sense to me.

I started out westbound on I-10 this morning and things were okay. The bridges were pretty rough, but the route was generally flat and I was able to cruise along at 63mph without the boost kicking in and causing problems. Then, once I got through Houston and turned south, the wind was right in my face. I got a reprieve whenever I was going downhill, but otherwise this was probably the worst day of driving I've had out here. I managed to limp into Laredo a little while ago, so I'm sure I can get down the street half a mile to make this drop in the morning. Then the Kenworth dealer is right around the corner. I guess we'll just have to hope they're not too busy.

The silver lining is that, since they have me highlighted for Joplin to trade my truck, I should skip some people once I get on the board. It's a nice 70 degrees and breezy down here right now, so I'm not sure I'm in a major hurry to head back into the cold. But I guess I have to keep moving and earn a living one way or another, at least until I manage to find my fiance and tell her that we're engaged. Then I suppose she can support me.

If anyone is passing through Hollywood, let Emmanuelle know I'm looking for her. Thanks in advance.

2/4/08

Well, when you start off with no hangover, that's a good thing, right? I had to get up wicked early, so I had the red eyes and dry mouth kicking, but I had no headache and actually felt pretty good. The drive up to my drop was uncongested and my truck was playing ball. So far so good.

My next pickup was scheduled for 1:30pm, about five miles from my drop, so I took the opportunity to catch a nice nap before I went to the shipper. I headed over around noon and found out it was a drop/hook and ready to go. The spot where I had to drop the empty was a real pain in the ass. No angle from which I could set up, no room for me to get at the landing gear once I backed it in, and no room for me to pull forward to straighten out. It took a while but I got it in there. Then I had to crawl under the trailer and unwind the landing gear, one inch at a time. That took a while. I'm not cut out for that kind of shit.

Then I headed south, a little nervous about how my temperamental truck would handle the 31,000 pound load in the hills. It was doing fine, so I was content to overlook the rain and slow traffic. In Alabama, that all changed. The weather cleared up, the traffic was rolling smoothly, and my truck decided to be a piece of shit. It was sputtering about as badly as it did the day I left Laredo, but the heavier load made it happen far more frequently. Today was a long, long day.

I would be inclined to pass off this load and just get to the nearest shop, even if it costs me some miles. I got a message this afternoon though, that has me hoping I can stick it out for a few more days. Apparently my little red truck has reached the end of its CTL career and I'm highlighted for Joplin to trade it in. If I can survive the trip to Laredo and then to Joplin, those guys can do whatever they want with this thing and I won't miss any time on the road.

I knocked out a good 600 miles tonight, so I should be able to make Laredo in one shot tomorrow. I was dispatched for Wednesday afternoon, but I want to unload this faulty truck as soon as possible so I plan to get there early.

If you made any money on the Super Bowl after reading my prediction, you're welcome. I have a special ability to completely misread the game of football and I'm happy to share it.