1/23/10

Whether we're discussing Olympic gymnastics or Bo Derek in her prime, the number 10 is often used to denote perfection. Oh, it's far from perfect, let me tell you. As I slept last night, my truck's battery rundown thing started beeping at me. It tends to do that because, for some reason, my truck's batteries don't last through a cold night very well. Normally this would be when I fire up the engine and let it run for a while. Since I was in New York, where idling is illegal, I just ignored the beeping. It stopped after a minute or two and the electricity, including that which keeps the bunk heater running, was turned off. Screw it, I thought. I could bundle up in my sleeping bag for a while.

Yeah, it was really, really cold by the next time I opened my eyes. This is the point where New York and the rest of these hippie-loving states can kiss my white butt. There's absolutely no rational reason that I can't run my truck to stay warm. I reached forward and cranked up the engine. Screw 'em. As I turned the heater knob to full-tilt red, I looked at the temperature readout above the steering column. Ten degrees. Not perfect.

Knowing what I told you yesterday about the wandering crack in my windshield, I cringed at the thought of what a 30° overnight drop in temperature was going to mean. Yeah, nothing good. Now, in addition to yesterday's damage, there's yet another branch veering off to the right side of the windshield. Son of a.

Once I warmed up a little, had some breakfast, and got rolling, the drive was a pretty easy one. Weekend traffic through Buffalo and Cleveland was no issue. The sky was sunny. Everything was groovy. Given what I knew about my windshield, and given what I thought it would mean in terms of my annual inspection, I decided to have the inspection done at the Petro outside Toledo. I drove past a few other T/A and Petro locations in order to do so, but there was a method to the madness. I didn't think it likely, but there was an outside chance that I would be told to relay my load and go to a dealership for a new window. With tomorrow being Sunday, this would mean a full day of sitting and waiting for the dealership to open. If this unlikely scenario were to unfold, I would much rather be close to home than somewhere in New York. Money was also a consideration. If I did have to relay the load, it would be better to give up the last couple hundred miles of the trip than to give up the last five hundred miles.

The guy at the Petro walked out, saw the window, and said that there was no reason to bother with the inspection. Bummer. Guess we'll be seeing a dealership in the very near future.

I also asked him to see if he could deal with a bad turn signal that I had. The left front one had burned out and, after I tried a new bulb with no luck, I concluded that the issue must be the wiring harness. Yeah, I know, I'm a regular engineer here. Mr. Goodwrench got it to work as a blinker but not as a marker light, so I guess he made some improvement in the situation. He did agree that the wiring harness was bad though. One more thing to handle at a Kenworth dealer. Somehow, through the process of dicking around with my turn signal bulbs, the guy managed to make the one on the right side stop working. He got it going again, after some struggles, but said that the wiring harness on that side also needed replacing. Yeah, add it to the freaking list, dude.

So it was time for the call to our road service department. The location of the inspection turned out to be a moot point in the end. The conversation went about as I expected. I had driven to the Toledo area and prepared for the worst just in case, but those guys usually aren't any more anxious to disrupt a loaded run than I am. Tonight was no exception. "As long as it's not in your line of sight..." was part of the conversation. I guess, at this point in time, that would depend on which direction I'm looking. The crack seems to have Manifest Destiny on its mind, but it's still not really in front of me yet. I can make it across Indiana. Once I get unloaded on Monday morning, I'll have to hop over to Joliet, Illinois and get the repairs done. Let's hope that they have the parts in stock and everything goes smoothly.

So, now that I get to keep all of my miles, we can review the particulars for the week and see that it was a pretty profitable one - 3,423 miles plus $113.90 in northeast pay. The budget here at Fenian Godfather Inc. calls for weekly revenue of $700 in Fiscal 2010. Any time we crack $1,400 in a week, we find those obnoxious early mornings and long drives a little easier to tolerate.

And, as an added bonus, Mom called to see what was new. I told her that I was in the Toledo area and she asked if I was up for some dinner. Well, does a bear shit in the woods?

Of course I'm up for some dinner. Nobody ever really needs to ask that question, I can assure you.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to develop a new style of prose before she gets here. It seems that someone has caught on to my little charade.

1/22/10

I'm not entirely sure why I've always been under the impression that Vermont was such a goofball state. Maybe it was Howard Dean or something. Ben and Jerry perhaps? I don't know. In the town of Brattleboro, they have a split speed limit. Don't want trucks barreling through at 65mph like everyone else, right? Well, not exactly. The speed limit for cars is 30mph. For trucks, the speed limit is 25mph. Now that's just stupid. Maybe I've been right all along. Or maybe those people just need to elect a Notre Dame man to get things straightened out for the motorists.

I got to the shipper in Manchester this morning at 7:20am, ahead of my 8am appointment. 7:20am equals 7:15am in the world of the log book, so the drive over there had consumed 45 minutes of my available time under the 70 hour rule. Minutiae like this really shouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but on days like today it all adds up.

I was loaded with various pieces of furniture and equipment that are being sent from a closing factory to one that is still operating. Much to my relief, the total weight came to just under 7,000 pounds. This made today's drive much more enjoyable. I crossed over on NH-101 to NH-9, then continued through Vermont on VT-9. "Goin' o'er the Hog Back," as one of the guys at the shipper put it. Mountains and curves and all of that jazz. With sunny skies, dry roads, and a light load, it was a pretty nice ride.

The pace was pretty slow through quite a few areas though. That 25mph part in Brattleboro wasn't really a big deal, as it only lasted a few miles, but there weren't any straight stretches of road so I had to mind my P's and Q's going in and out of the curves. Knowing that there were zero parking options until I hit the freeway in New York, I was checking the clock on a regular basis to try and gauge my progress.

In the end, I had no problem reaching the Thruway before my hours ran out. In fact, once I got to the first service plaza I saw a sign saying that the next one was 44 miles away. I had 45 minutes left with which to work, so I was able to press on a little further. Every last minute came in handy, once all was said and done. Now I'm set up nicely for the weekend.

I got another message today, telling me that my truck is due for an annual inspection. I knew this, of course, but I guess they have to stay on top of things until all of the trucks are good to go. I let my fleet manager know that my schedule hasn't been very workable this week, but that I'll have a chance to take care of it tomorrow. As far as I know this should be fine. Not much I can do about it today in any case, given that I am completely out of hours. The cold weather has caused a little crack in the corner of my windshield to start migrating in various directions, so I'll probably be forced to get that fixed, but I was going to have to do that anyway. It's not in my field of view yet, so I was hoping to wait until this trip is finished. We'll see what the inspector dude says tomorrow.

1/21/10

I can't listen to way people talk in Maine without thinking of this guy, so we'll just go ahead and outsource the first part of today's post...


I think he hit on most of the main points. When I left Kennebunk at 3am, things weren't too bad. As I moved further northward, Mr. Marley's observations were pretty close to the thoughts in my head. The turnpike was pretty damned icy once I got past Augusta. On US-1A from Bangor out toward the ocean things were even worse. Just a hilly, snowy, slippery pain in the ass. And yeah, there were a few times that I had to say, "This is bullshit."

After I got unloaded, the guys at the consignee suggested that I could park at the local grocery store. I turned out onto the main road and then, once I was moving (of course), my next assignment came over the satellite. Once I found a place to pull over, I saw that I needed to spin around and head back the way that I came. By this point though, the sun was out and the road salt was working on the ice and snow. Still a little slick in spots, but not nearly as bad as it had been on the way to Milbridge. As I made my way down I-95, I wound up getting to clean and dry roads for the rest of the day. Sort of like a mirror image of the earlier drive.

My next load is picking up tomorrow morning in Manchester, New Hampshire and heading to the Chicago area for Monday morning. Given the hours that I have remaining under the 70 hour rule, this was a pretty effective assignment. I wouldn't have realized that I could cover so many miles with what I had left, but it looks like it will all work out nicely. Beauty.

I cruised down to the T/A in Greenland, New Hampshire and parked for the night. Tomorrow morning's hop over to Manchester will hopefully be quick and easy from here. Once I get loaded, I'm hoping to get to the New York Thruway before my 5.75 hours run out. There aren't really any 'Plan B' options if I can't make it, given the route that I'll be taking, so I can scarcely afford to waste any time getting to the shipper.

As long as tomorrow brings no unforeseen issues, the weekend should set up nicely. I'll pick up plenty of hours to finish the trip before Sunday night and I'll also have enough time to get my truck's annual inspection done. Not bad at all. One more early morning to go...

1/20/10

We had heavy traffic in Buffalo. We had light traffic in Worcester. We had a snow storm in Syracuse. We had sunshine in Albany. We had flat land in Western New York. We had steep climbs in Western Massachusetts. We had cold weather along I-90. We had... well... even colder weather along I-95. This Tale of Two Cities motif could go only so far, I suppose.

This long day of driving may have been even longer if not for the damned feds. Eleven hours is the limit for one shift. That's plenty of hours as far as I'm concerned, but the inflexibility of the rules can lead to a problem. If I had driven eleven hours today, I would have found myself somewhere between Portland and Augusta. I think that there is a service plaza along the turnpike up there, but I seem to recall the parking being extremely scarce. I don't get to Maine very often, so my memory on the subject may not be 100% accurate, but I really can't take the chance and find out the hard way that I was right. If I drive the full eleven hours and then can't find a parking space, there is no provision in the rules allowing me to drive to the next truck stop or rest area. Some bureaucrat has decided that an eleven hour drive is just peachy, but eleven hours and twenty minutes - deadly.

So I had to play it safe and stop at the service plaza on the turnpike before Portland. And the mornings just keep getting earlier. To reach Milbridge by 8am, I'll probably have to leave here around 3am or so. It's a little over 200 miles from here to there, but I have no idea how long the drive will actually take. It's snowing, for starters. The pace of traffic wasn't bad this afternoon, but if the snow comes down all night, who knows? Plus the last fifty-something miles will be on U.S. highways, winding through various towns. Plus I need to make a fuel stop along the way. So yeah, I guess 3am it is. Fun times...