Ahh, no alarm clock today, no alarm clock tomorrow. I love it. I never heard back from the chick in Virginia last night, so I didn't bother getting out of bed early today. I slept late and got rolling around 11am. The timing worked out almost perfectly in terms of hitting Nashville after the morning rush and Knoxville before the afternoon rush.
I rolled up past Wytheville and decided to stop in Dublin for the night. That's a good 460 miles for today and I can't imagine I'm much more than four hours from Manassas at this point. I took a look at Google Earth. I'm pretty confident that I can set up shop at the consignee tomorrow night. If not, I'll have to scout for another location at the industrial park in which they are located. This means that arriving late will be better than arriving early. This means that I'm sleeping late again tomorrow. Nice.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
11/18/08
As was the case yesterday, the tone for today was set early. This time it was a good tone. I awoke at some point this morning and thought to myself, "Please let me sleep for one more hour." When I checked the clock, I had an hour until my alarm was set to go off. Beauty.
The twenty-five miles to the shipper were nice and easy. My directions were easy to follow and the shipper was easy to access. The paperwork was ready for me and my trailer was set to go. I backed my empty into a space in one motion and centered it perfectly. Since I'll be heading into some hilly terrain, I checked the weight on the bills. 10,000 pounds. Groovy. And we were off and running.
I got back to the Dallas area after the morning rush had died down, so the traffic wasn't backed up at all. Out through East Texas I just set the cruise control and enjoyed the ride. Arkansas was a breeze. There was traffic backed up in the Memphis area... westbound. My side was rolling right along. It was just that kind of day.
I got all the way to Hurricane Mills tonight, setting me up for an easy schedule the rest of the way. If a friend of mine in Virginia is available tomorrow, I'll most likely knock out nine hours of driving and join her for dinner. If not, I may drive a little less tomorrow and split the trip up more. I make my first drop in Manassas at 5:30am Friday so I'm planning to get up there on Thursday night. It's almost doable in one long shift from here so I can stop whenever I feel like it tomorrow afternoon.
After the drop in Manassas, I'll be heading toward the Beltway during rush hour. That should be pretty fun. My second drop is in Alexandria. The northeast pay will total close to twenty bucks for this load and the extra stop pays another thirty-five. Still no word on how much layover and detention pay are coming, but I'll be empty on Friday morning with lots of hours available for the weekend. It's starting to come together...
The twenty-five miles to the shipper were nice and easy. My directions were easy to follow and the shipper was easy to access. The paperwork was ready for me and my trailer was set to go. I backed my empty into a space in one motion and centered it perfectly. Since I'll be heading into some hilly terrain, I checked the weight on the bills. 10,000 pounds. Groovy. And we were off and running.
I got back to the Dallas area after the morning rush had died down, so the traffic wasn't backed up at all. Out through East Texas I just set the cruise control and enjoyed the ride. Arkansas was a breeze. There was traffic backed up in the Memphis area... westbound. My side was rolling right along. It was just that kind of day.
I got all the way to Hurricane Mills tonight, setting me up for an easy schedule the rest of the way. If a friend of mine in Virginia is available tomorrow, I'll most likely knock out nine hours of driving and join her for dinner. If not, I may drive a little less tomorrow and split the trip up more. I make my first drop in Manassas at 5:30am Friday so I'm planning to get up there on Thursday night. It's almost doable in one long shift from here so I can stop whenever I feel like it tomorrow afternoon.
After the drop in Manassas, I'll be heading toward the Beltway during rush hour. That should be pretty fun. My second drop is in Alexandria. The northeast pay will total close to twenty bucks for this load and the extra stop pays another thirty-five. Still no word on how much layover and detention pay are coming, but I'll be empty on Friday morning with lots of hours available for the weekend. It's starting to come together...
Monday, November 17, 2008
11/17/08
Let's play Jeopardy.
A: Watch movies all day and stare at the other trucks.
Q: What do you do when you sat all weekend and then got fifty miles for today?
Yeah, just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. I should have known how the day would go when I got a burger from the vending machine in Lancaster and about gagged when I bit into it. Mustard? On a fucking vending machine cheeseburger? That's bullshit.
I made the twenty mile trek to the consignee this morning and they had me unloaded in short order. In the absence of a place to park in Dallas, I headed toward I-35E to start back toward Lancaster. As I got to the freeway I received my next assignment. I have to pick up tomorrow morning in Cleburne and head for Virginia.
I stopped on the ramp for a minute to see where Cleburne was. It is southwest of Dallas so I was going the right way. I pulled into the Love's on US-67 a short while later and that was that for today. Big time. Another day will be tacked on to my layover pay from the slow dispatch over the weekend though. If that goes on my check -and- the detention pay from North Carolina goes on my check -and- I get a decent weekend run -and- the northeast miles add up a little bit, I should do pretty well overall.
I now sit here and ponder more of life's little mysteries. For instance, how does it make sense to loan the automakers another $25 billion when they're (combined) worth less than half that? And why can't they just borrow some money from the oil companies if we're not going to let the oil companies spend the money on drilling? I don't know man. Congressional math, I suppose. It's no wonder we have $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities as a country. Maybe I'll knock some chick up and go to college and buy an electric car and get a low-paying job so I can get my check before the well runs dry. That sounds like a plan.
A: Watch movies all day and stare at the other trucks.
Q: What do you do when you sat all weekend and then got fifty miles for today?
Yeah, just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. I should have known how the day would go when I got a burger from the vending machine in Lancaster and about gagged when I bit into it. Mustard? On a fucking vending machine cheeseburger? That's bullshit.
I made the twenty mile trek to the consignee this morning and they had me unloaded in short order. In the absence of a place to park in Dallas, I headed toward I-35E to start back toward Lancaster. As I got to the freeway I received my next assignment. I have to pick up tomorrow morning in Cleburne and head for Virginia.
I stopped on the ramp for a minute to see where Cleburne was. It is southwest of Dallas so I was going the right way. I pulled into the Love's on US-67 a short while later and that was that for today. Big time. Another day will be tacked on to my layover pay from the slow dispatch over the weekend though. If that goes on my check -and- the detention pay from North Carolina goes on my check -and- I get a decent weekend run -and- the northeast miles add up a little bit, I should do pretty well overall.
I now sit here and ponder more of life's little mysteries. For instance, how does it make sense to loan the automakers another $25 billion when they're (combined) worth less than half that? And why can't they just borrow some money from the oil companies if we're not going to let the oil companies spend the money on drilling? I don't know man. Congressional math, I suppose. It's no wonder we have $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities as a country. Maybe I'll knock some chick up and go to college and buy an electric car and get a low-paying job so I can get my check before the well runs dry. That sounds like a plan.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
11/16/08
Yeah, I'm bored as hell. No women stopped by to see me last night, so I have to assume that my plea fell on deaf ears. I did drop my trailer this morning and head down to the Nieman Marcus of the trucking industry - WalMart - for a while. That was a real thrill.
Then I came back to the yard and did some reading. I learned that the "scientific consensus" was full of shit again. Hey, when a theory doesn't hold water, just stick with the narrative and make up the facts as you go. I can't blame 'em. There's a lot of money in that paranoia business.
The 'Skins game will be on in a little while. At least I'll have something interesting to keep me occupied for a few hours. I have to deliver in Dallas by 8am tomorrow. I should be able to get a little sleep after the game.
Then I came back to the yard and did some reading. I learned that the "scientific consensus" was full of shit again. Hey, when a theory doesn't hold water, just stick with the narrative and make up the facts as you go. I can't blame 'em. There's a lot of money in that paranoia business.
The 'Skins game will be on in a little while. At least I'll have something interesting to keep me occupied for a few hours. I have to deliver in Dallas by 8am tomorrow. I should be able to get a little sleep after the game.
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