11/24/07

I used to picture a day on the road... oh, I covered that yesterday? That's right. Well, today was just like yesterday. Another 660 miles behind me and not much else to say. I tried to stop and watch some football for a while. Apparently, in North Dakota, even the wifi hotspots give you painfully slow internet access. So, no football, but at least I got some work done.

Back at it tomorrow for another ten or eleven hours. It looks like I'm getting ahead of my intended pace a little, but the weather out here could derail me in a hurry so I need to keep going.

11/23/07

I could say, with 100% accuracy, that this job has been almost exactly what I expected it to be. In the big picture, perspective-based sense, that would be completely true.

I could also say, with equal accuracy, that hardly anything in the day-to-day routine goes the way you picture it before you get out here and do it. Today was almost exactly like the kind of day I pictured before I started this job.

I always pictured real long days on the road, cruising vast distances with minimal stopping. In reality, eight hours is a pretty typical day and I've had as many two hour days as eleven hour days. On the longer ones, I usually stop a few times for no other reason than boredom. Today I ran just short of eleven hours and only took a quick piss break.

I never pictured sitting in stationary traffic for no particular reason on an almost daily basis. Most days, whenever I get close to a city, we'll come to a stop at least once but there won't be any apparent reason for having done so. Today I took I-90 straight through Chicago and never dropped below the posted speed limit.

I never pictured all of the ways that incompetent office personnel could find to waste my time. Today I was in the middle of a long run so the office didn't exist as far as I was concerned.

I never pictured the amount of time that it could take to load a trailer. I've had full loads put on in ten minutes, so I know it can be a quick process, but I've also had half a trailer take five hours. Today I was already loaded and ready to roll once I drove to work in the morning.

I never pictured the asinine places into which shippers and receivers would ask us to back our 53' trailers. I've had some where, even after I got the trailer in the door, I looked outside and thought, "I'll never get out of here." Today, there were no docks to bump or drop yards to navigate.

I always pictured myself just setting the cruise slightly below the speed limit and letting it ride. In reality, there is always someone going slower. Try driving 50mph on the interstate sometime. You'll still run someone down and have to make your way around. I guarantee it. Today I ran 60mph in Michigan, 65mph in Indiana, 55mph in Illinois, and 65mph in Wisconsin. I rarely had to leave the right lane or disengage the cruise.

All of this just confirms a previously held view of mine. If every day of the year fell on a holiday weekend, I would absolutely love my job. They don't, and thus I don't, but today was exactly what the doctor ordered. I got to Hudson, Wisconsin, just outside Minnesota. That's plenty of ground covered for today and with no aggravation.

I even got a kick out of seeing all of the full arms and smiling faces as I rolled through the towns and suburbs, especially Chicago. Analysts expect a sharp decline in consumer activity in response to rising gas prices. Anybody who knows anything about America knows our attitude when it comes to Christmas shopping - 'Fuck gas prices. I want to see my kids smile.' I guess I'll try to catch on with one of these think tanks. It sounds like people get to make shit up and get paid for it.

Well, I guess that's all for today. Skipping yesterday to visit with family has left me pigeonholed into a hard-running weekend, so I have a lot more ground to cover tomorrow.

11/22/07

Ahh.... That feels good. The first solid night of sleep since I don't know when. I rolled out of the sack around 9:30am. Okay, now for the headache. Nope, gone. Oh, but the nausea. Hey, that's gone too. The joint pain, stomach cramps, dizziness, diarrhea? All gone. I'll chalk it up to the healing powers of money. More money = less aggravation = I'm all better. I know there's probably no science to back that up, but it works for me.

I have numerous tattoos, each of which has some meaning or symbolism for something that I consider important enough to etch on my skin for the rest of my life. On top of my right shoulder, there's an angel. On top of my left shoulder, there's a devil. To me, they represent the constant inner dialogue between right and wrong that each of us faces every day. The importance, and hence the reason it was worth the etching, is that we should never allow ourselves to forget to listen to both sides of that inner dialogue. If you just ignore the little devil on your shoulder, you might lose track of what he's saying. Then, somewhere down the road, you find out that he's speaking on your behalf all the time. You know the conversations I'm talking about:

Eat the last slice / Watch your cholesterol
Screw that guy, I'm in a hurry / You should slow down and let him merge
Try to get her panties off / You don't even know her name
Sweet! We got free cornflakes / Tell them the scanner missed an item
Think of a good excuse / Just admit your mistake

And so on, and so on...

So anyway... Today, about an hour after I got rolling, the little devil got started. I was approaching the exit for I-280, which would run me north to I-75 and up toward Detroit. Screw this. You've put up with enough crap lately. You need a day off. To that extent, he did make a pretty good point. The only catch was that Detroit was not on the way to Washington, which is my destination. Then I heard from my little angel. You could surprise your family on Thanksgiving. Wouldn't that be nice?

So there I was, thoroughly confused. These two never agree with each other. Then it continued:
You can have a few beers and watch football.
You can play with your niece and nephew.
Everyone else is going home, why not you? (He's been using that tactic on me since I was a kid.)
A lot of people would be grateful for this kind of opportunity. (She's been using that tactic on me since I was a kid too.)

So there I was. If these two agree, what can I say? I hung a right and headed home. Now I'll show up at Mom's house with a bag of dirty laundry and it will be just like coming home for the holidays when I was in college. I'll have four ten-hour days starting tomorrow and I should be fine. Then, my appointment is for 9am Pacific on Tuesday, which is noon for me, so I have that whole morning to make up for any lost time due to weather. Done.

I'll burn some extra fuel by taking this detour, but after thinking it through I'm pretty sure I'll save enough money to make it even out. I'll skip the rest of the tolls in Ohio and all of the tolls in Indiana, since I'll head west on I-94. I'll be cruising through Michigan at 60mph instead of Ohio and Indiana at 65mph, probably saving a few gallons. I'll take on around 80 gallons at the terminal, saving some more money. I'll sleep in my bed at home tonight, so I won't have to idle the truck to stay warm. And lastly, I won't be submitting a reimbursement form for the $15 Thanksgiving dinner that they offer to us, since I won't be buying food on the road today.

Being from Detroit, the Lions are obviously a traditional deal. I'm not a Lions fan though, so I usually have to manufacture some kind of rooting interest. This year it's simple. My 'Skins aren't catching Green Bay. That much seems obvious. If they have any hope of overcoming Joe Gibbs' amazing ability to blow games in the fourth quarter and making a playoff run, they will have to pass Detroit. Go Packers!

Game 2 has always been one where I have a clear-cut favorite - whoever plays the Cowboys. J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets!

As for the college games this weekend, I'll be driving all day through the weekend and my XM Radio is broken so I don't know that I can properly whore out my loyalty to any teams playing day games. I'll have to see who plays at night, while I'm stopped, and take it from there. Even then, the internet service gets pretty sketchy out that way, so I have no high hopes of watching football this weekend.

Anyhow, happy Thanksgiving everyone and we'll catch up with you tomorrow.

11/21/07

Easton, I hardly knew ya.

I got an empty today at 11am and my assigned load picked up at 8am, so I guess you can figure out that much. So another missed load, what's the difference, right? That's honestly how I felt this morning, but some of the nonsense surrounding the whole deal had me all worked up.

I went back to the drop lot in Hazleton at 5am, a full three hours ahead of my scheduled appointment at the place in Easton. What say you, Mr. yard dog? "Maybe another hour or so." That's fine, I could leave at 6am and still make my appointment with no trouble.

Okay, it's 6am, how about now, Mr. yard dog? "It's gonna be a while, but they're gonna dump eleven empties when they get done." Freaking useless. I need one empty, not eleven. I need to know when, not "a while."

So I called CFI and got some dude on the phone. I told him what was going on, then he put me on hold. When he came back, he said that they were trying to get a hold of someone at the customer to see when they would get me an empty. Yeah well, most office types aren't taking phone calls at 6am. Besides, why would anyone think they have any real idea, when they've been lying to me since last night? So I got unassigned from my planned load.

Around 9:30am, after getting another runaround, I shot a message to CFI. I apprised them of the fact that I had been at the customer for 14 hours, I still had no empty, and I do need to eat this month. I imagine that last bit of sarcasm did the trick, prompting a defensive reply from my fleet manager. He said I wasn't planned on anything because I said I would board in the morning and I never did. Ummm... At that point, I went from 'pissed but dealing with it' to 'I'll punch you in the mouth.' I never boarded? Kiss my ass pal. The rough draft of my response read, "Okay genius, how in the fuck am I supposed to board with no fucking empty?" Once my editors got through with me, the final version (the one I actually sent) said, "I can't board without an empty."

My fleet manager then put me on the board with no empty and said he was calling this mysterious guy who apparently has the power to make empties appear. I was told they were calling the same guy last night and we see how that went. A short time later, the mystery man sent me a message saying that the trailer in door #32 was empty and I could pull it once the light turned green. I sat in front of it for an hour. The light never turned green. Finally the yard dog brought me an empty from some other door.

This was a pretty big customer of ours (which is why there are no names listed here) and I guess all we can do is put up with their shit when this happens, but that was unacceptable. If a loaded trailer comes in, an empty goes out. If an empty comes in, a load goes out. There's no excuse for what I dealt with there. If they're seeing a shift in their business, they need to get excess empties in there to accomodate the changes. If not, they just need to get their heads out of their asses. Either way, that's time for which I won't get paid and I can't do anything about it.

Tired of my whining yet? I sure as hell am. Okay, let's try this on for size: I got a load assignment right around the time I finally got an empty trailer. Pick up in Telford, about 70 miles away. Okay. And... go to Kent, Washington, 2,830 miles away. Beauty. So thanks for all of the offers, but it looks like I may not have to sell a kidney for rent money after all. This run got me up to 4,053 miles and I'll have four more days, after I'm empty, until the month is through.

I was planning to tend to some business matters at home on the 29th, but this run will force me to reschedule since I deliver in Washington on the morning of the 27th. I was already leaning toward staying out, since my income has been so pathetic this month. This way, they just made the decision for me.

I found that I had to take a break every couple of hours today, on account of not feeling so great, but I still got halfway across Ohio before my 14 hour clock ran out. My strength is definitely not 100%, but I think my biggest issue was the neck pain. Through drills and forced habit, I'm compulsive about checking my mirrors every few seconds. Each time I turned my head today, my neck hurt like a bitch. Then, the next time, it would be worse. And so on, and so on, until eventually I would pull over and lay down for a spell.

Along the way, I missed the turn where I-80 and I-76 cross. Nothing new for me. I'd say I miss at least one turn a day. I was passing a guy, then I needed to be in the right lane, then he sped up... Anyhow, getting to the point - My unintended route took me through a couple of towns. I know that some people lament the effect that Wal Mart has had on small towns in America. I stopped in at the one on OH-14 just south of the turnpike and I got a new work coat for $15. For deals like that, they can run a whole state out of business as far as I'm concerned. (I recommend California.)