Albert Lea, MN - 6/1/09

Minnesota: Check

I was just flipping through the pictures on my phone and realized it's been a while since I've posted any. I've taken quite a few, mostly because I've learned that pictures taken with my iPhone are automatically geo-tagged in my Google Picasa Web album, providing an excellent illustration of my travels. Well, maybe "excellent" is a little strong; you can see where I've been, at least. I'll try to remember to post some pics next time I'm home.

I made my 7am appointment this morning with no problems. I was delivering to a home improvement store that had several buildings, only one of which had a dock. Only a small portion of the load, which was all baled home insulation, was going to the building with the dock. That meant the rest of it (practically a trailer full from floor to ceiling) had to be unloaded by hand. The bales had to be rolled or carried to the end of the trailer and dropped onto the
waiting forklift, four bales at a time. I hopped in the trailer to help the guy, working up a sweat and making thirty bucks in the process.

After catching my breath, it was on to the shipper for the next load. I guess the company must have heard me complaining about their crappy directions the other day, so this time they didn't bother to give me any. Fortunately, I had the shipper's name and address, a GPS, and their phone number, just in case. My GPS was spot on - it took me right to the address I was given. After driving all the way up the street, I realized "Cook Paper Recycling" was a figment of someone's imagination. Time for a phone call. The gentlemen that answered the
phone greeted me with the name of an entirely different company than I was given, but seemed to be expecting me and provided me with directions to a location several blocks away. Wow, my company gave me a worthless address AND doesn't even know the name of the shipper. Is this a test? Am I on hidden video? I found the correct location and got loaded, but then it was the shipper that didn't have their act together. They filled the trailer with product and had no idea how
much it weighed. For cryin' out.... So, I had to go to the Pilot a
few miles up the road to weigh the load.....and then go back to the shipper to get my paperwork. It was at this point I found out the address I was initially given was the main office, as this was where I had to pick-up my paperwork. Can anybody in South Dakota work out of just ONE building?Please?

With that adventure over, I hit the road. I'm low on hours, so this load isn't scheduled to deliver in Wisconsin until Wednesday morning, which means I get some time to relax today and tomorrow.