Home for good - 7/26/09

By the standards of my last post, I didn't get lucky. What I did get was a twenty-four hour bus ride from Wisconsin to Georgia. At least the company paid for it. For those fortunate enough to have never experienced bus travel, allow me to explain. You're crammed into a seat with less room than an airplane, the interior was last sanitized in 1973 when the bus was new, and every person you never wanted to meet will be on the bus with you. But who cares? Just over twenty-four hours after leaving the yard, I was home.

After getting up Friday morning, I dropped my load in Stevens Point, WI and dead-headed to the yard. It took about an hour or so for me to pack my belongings, and after returning the company's items, I was free to go. Pretty simple, really; no hard feelings on either side.

I've been surprised at the number of people that seemed unaware of how truckers live on the road; "where do you sleep?" was a surprising question I received on more than one occasion. Life in a truck isn't too bad. It's kind of like a really long camping trip: Space is at a premium, so you pack the essentials; in the winter, you have a warm, cozy place to bundle up in at night; in bad weather, you have a comfortable shelter from the storm. Most of the larger truckstops have everything a driver could need, including hot showers (that are usually free with a fuel purchase). So, it's pretty easy to get by. All in all, I'll be able to look back on my experience as a favorable one. I was prepared to not get home every weekend, and I didn't. I was prepared to miss meals and drive all day, and I did. I was prepared to see the countryside, and I did. I've learned that proper preparation, in a addition to your expectations, can make a world of difference in how you view your situation. I've learned that there are thousands of hard working men and women on the road that sacrifice time with their families to do their job and that we enjoy the benefits of that sacrifice. And I've learned that being lost isn't so bad. Thanks for following along with my travels; I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

Janesville, WI - 7/23/09

Unless anything changes between now and tomorrow morning, I have picked-up my final load. I'm set to deliver in Stevens Point tomorrow
morning and then head to the yard to turn in the truck. On more than one occasion today, I've felt it necessary to remind myself that soon I'll be getting paid for ALL the work I do, not just the miles I drive, in addition to being home every day, having weekends off, and plenty of paid holidays and vacation - and it's even a job I'll enjoy! Yessir, things are looking up.

I made my delivery this morning and had to hang out for an hour or so before I received my final pre-plan: a load from Chicago to Wisconsin. I guess I couldn't finish things up without getting caught-up in Chicago construction and traffic. I escaped unscathed, fortunately; it couldve been much worse if I actually had to go downtown.

With any luck, I'll be able to hitch a ride heading south with another driver within the next day or two. Without any luck, I'll be on a very long bus ride or a very expensive flight. Let's hope Lady Luck is feeling generous.

Seymour, IN - 7/22/09

Exactly ten hours of driving got me to Seymour for the evening. I should be in good shape to make my noon appointment in Carol Stream, IL tomorrow.

Once again, dragging 41k lbs across the mountains ensured I had to actually work a little today. And it was perhaps the last time I will cross the mountains in my truck. I drove through a pretty good rain storm in Kentucky this afternoon. Other than that, it was a pretty smooth trip today. Not sure what the next load will be. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Catawba, SC - 7/21/09

When you enter the state of North Carolina, you'll most likely notice a sign on the side of the road that reads: "State Law: Must Burn Headlights When Using Windshield Wipers." It hasn't happened yet, but I'm waiting to one day see a car with an Alabama license plate pulled over on the side of the road, the rain-soaked driver kneeling in front of the vehicle with a lighter in one hand, confounded as to why the hell his headlights won't ignite. No, Alabama, mocking you will never cease to amuse.

I left Knoxville this morning and ended up getting to the receiver about an hour and a half ahead of my appointment. I know I'm leaving trucking soon, but I'm not getting cut any slack during my last few days; this place was not designed for tractor-trailers and my skills were definitely put to the test trying to maneuver on narrow city streets. As I approached the building, I saw a narrow driveway on the right, but it was clearly not a truck entrance. With traffic piled up behind me, I figured I should try to get off the main street. Just past the end of the building was an intersection with another narrow street. I could make an easy left and go away from the building, or I could make a hard right, up a hill, with a concrete wall lining the edge of the turn. Hoping there might be a side entrance or some docks in the rear, I opted for the hard right.

And then I saw the dock...and realized I was facing the wrong way.

"Well, you'll just have to go up the hill to turn around, pull back down across both lanes of traffic, and back uphill at an angle to hit the dock." Oh, sure, no problem buddy.



Well, eventually, I got all turned around and managed to get it in the dock. About an hour later, I was empty and ready to go.

(Author's note 7/26/09: the rest of this post was lost during the upload process due to the joys of modern technology, and perhaps, a bit of my own impatience.)

Knoxville, TN - 7/20/09

Well, blog readers, I have an announcement to make. As some of my loyal readers know, while I greatly enjoy the travels and adventures my current job provides, I have been anxious to return to a more routine lifestyle. Recently, I was offered the opportunity to do just that. I've accepted a job offer that will soon have me off the road and back home living a "normal" life. I have given my notice to the company and suspect that I will be home within a week or so. In the meantime, the show must go on...

After a nice weekend at home, I got back on the road yesterday evening for a relatively short jaunt up to Murfreesboro, TN. I had a delivery this morning near Nashville, so the 'Boro seemed like a good place to stop for the night. After my delivery, I received a couple of pre-plans designed to get me up to the yard; I'll be heading over to South Carolina tomorrow to deliver and then pick-up a load to Illinois.

Lawrenceville, GA - 7/17/09

I was greeted with good news this morning: my load was ready in Catawba. I made the five-hour drive over there, dropped and hooked, and was on my way home. Along the way, I noticed there seemed to be an abundance of drivers on the road that woke up this morning with the sole intention of ticking me off. Dragging 41k lbs through the Carolina hills didn't help matters either, though it was easy to find comfort in the fact I was headed home.

I'll be here for a couple days before heading back out to make my Monday delivery in Tennessee.

Shallotte, NC - 7/16/09

I don't think I've been getting enough sleep lately. I can tell because the first thing I want to do upon waking is go back to sleep. I bet you had no idea I could be so profound.

I had a long day of driving, but I found a great way to pass the time: listening to Judge Sotomayor's confirmation hearing on satellite radio. Seeing how many ways she could give the same answer to the same question was quite impressive.

It went something like this:
Senator: Judge, what's your opinion on.....
Sotomayor: I rule on the basis of law, not opinion. You old, wrinkly white man.

Okay, she didn't call them wrinkly, but she was masterful at circumventing their attempts to catch her making contradictory statements or revealing in any way that her legal opinions would be influenced by any thing other than the law. Due to the similar nature of the questions being asked, her deflective answers seemed to become quite routine, almost as if mocking the entire process. I found it humorous. It's always enjoyable to see a blatantly biased senator put in his place by a wise Latina. Take that, Sessions.

As promised to my dispatcher yesterday, I arrived at the receiver this evening after 5pm. Since receiving hours were over at 11am, I was expecting to sit here all night and get unloaded in the morning, however, the kind gentleman here said "though he had to go to his mother's house, he could come back and unload load me at 9pm." Sweet. Works for me. It's just now 9pm and I'm being unloaded as I type. My next load is supposed to be coming out of the black hole that is Catawba, SC. According to my preplan the load was scheduled to be picked-up between 7/13-7/15. I knew better. I was hoping, but I knew better. After calling the guard shack, I was told they hadn't even started making the product that is to be put on the trailer. No surprise there. This load should get me home for the weekend, so I'm hoping for some better news in the morning.

Knoxville, TN - 7/15/09

I finally made it out of Wisconsin Monday afternoon. I was dispatched to southern Wisconsin to pick-up a load to Tennessee. Surprise, the load wasn't ready. After finally getting the load at 7am Tuesday, I stopped to scale and was overweight on my steer tires, yet strangely underweight on my drives and tandems. Back to the shipper. Eventually I was given a different, lighter load. Back to the scales. This time I was overweight on my tandems. Nice. Fortunately, I was able to fix it.

I delivered in Tennessee today and picked-up a load to North Carolina. Well, I didn't so much deliver as I dropped the trailer at the receiver, as my dispatcher specifically instructed. After leaving and going a few miles down the road to eat lunch at the truckstop, I was told "Oops, nevermind. You need to drop the trailer at the truckstop." Alright. With that out of the way, I eventually got back on the road. I'm supposed to deliver in Shallotte, NC tomorrow and I'm really hoping hometime is in the near future.

Amherst, WI - 7/11/09

Yes, I've finally made it to the yard. And a lot of good arriving on a Saturday morning has done me - with the shop guys gone, it looks like I'll be here until at least Monday night. Oh well, at least I'm stationary.

I made my delivery in Missouri Thursday afternoon. The two guys that were there were happy to unload me. Nice. I spent the night just outside Omaha, NE before picking-up there Friday morning. The load was dispatched to load Monday and deliver Tuesday. Sometimes I'm not sure why they bother putting dates and times on the preplans; the load was ready Friday morning and I dropped the load Friday evening in Wisconsin. No problems. Without enough hours to get to the yard, I found a nice, almost empty rest area to get some sleep at last night.

Looks like tomorrow will be another day of hanging out, watching television, and maybe even napping. Good times.

Marston, MO - 7/8/09

All I know is, somebody doesn't have his act together and it's not me. After waiting five hours to get unloaded this morning, I was dispatched to my next load. You know, the load that has to be picked up by 12:30 (it's noon and I'm 2.5 hours away), that was supposed to be picked up yesterday, and has to be in Wisconsin by 9am tomorrow. I guess my dispatcher was just trying to start my day with a little humor. After explaining that no part of that equation was possible, I was told to go anyway. "Hopefully the shipper will load you" and "the receiver is flexible, just let me know when you think you'll get there" was what I got. Alright.

"You gotta be kidding" was the first thing the guy at the warehouse said to me before I even spoke. Hey man, I just go where they tell me. He eventually agreed to load me anyway. Sweet. After putting two rolls of paper on the trailer, he came out to the truck and said, "I can't load you with all that powder in the trailer. This is food grade paper and if it's contaminated, the receiver will reject the load." Huh?

Seems someone somewhere spilled a flour-like powder in the trailer and didn't bother to clean it up. I offered to sweep it out, but apparently even that wouldn't remove enough of it to be considered clean. He basically wanted the trailer washed out. And that's about when I got taken off that load.

After that sidetrip, it was on to Cherokee to pickup a load to Missouri. You know, the load that's supposed to deliver tomorrow morning. Not going to happen. The appointment was changed to noon. Still not going to happen. Guess they're just hoping the receiver will unload me after hours. And why not? If they want their stuff bad enough, they should unload me whenever I get there, right? Alas, that's not always the case. Guess we'll find out tomorrow afternoon.

Birmingham, AL - 7/7/09

As it turned out, that Tennessee load that was supposed to be ready in the morning wasn't going to be ready until 6pm. After informing my dispatcher this morning, I was taken off that load and given a load picking up in Georgia by 2pm. Wow. Good thing I hurriedly left home yesterday evening to get to Tennessee last night.

I picked up the Georgia load and delivered to Cherokee, where I picked up my next load. I'm now waiting at the receiver in Birmingham to deliver in the morning. Amazingly, everything worked out today.

Charleston, TN - 7/6/09

I got less than 2 hours of sleep last night. I got home at 7am this morning. At 2pm, my dispatcher informed me I was supposed to pick up a load in Atlanta by 4pm. Hmm, guess you should have told me sooner.

That load was scrapped and I was told to check back this evening. When I did, I found out I had to be in Tennessee before night's end. Not fun, but possible. Only, when I arrived at the shipper this evening, I was told the load wouldn't be ready until tomorrow morning, eight hours or so after it was supposed to be ready. It's amazing that in these technological times, that little piece of information couldn't be communicated before I drove all the way up here. Oh well. At least I get to sleep late in the morning.

Forest Park, GA - 7/5/09

I didn't notice any fireworks at the truckstop last night; I went to bed. I left west Georgia this morning and headed to Cherokee for a drop and hook.

Of course, dropping was not so simple. And for that matter, neither was the hook. Before entering the facility, the tandems must be slid all the way back. Sometimes, like today, the locking pins get in a bind and wont release when you try to pull the handle. Dealing with that took about twenty minutes of pulling forward to try to release the pressure on the pins, getting out of the truck, walking to the back of the trailer, pulling the the handle (too far - still stuck), getting back in the truck, backing up, too far, pulling forward...over and over and over. Finally, I had moved the truck just right and was able to slide the tandems. And now the locking pins won't pop back out. Well too bad; I'm not dealing with it. I dropped the trailer and that was that. Until karma got the better of me.

The trailer I picked up had a flat tire. This is the second time in as many weeks I've picked up a trailer with a flat. I had to deal with that. I went up the road to a local truckstop and the tire was repaired within the hour for a mere $35. Hmm, no wonder the company would rather repair a tire than replace it.

I'm at the receiver now and they start unloading at 12:30am, so I better try to get a some sleep before they knock on my door.

Temple, GA - 7/1/09

My day started way too early for my liking, but that also means it ended much sooner than usual. And that's not a bad thing. I did, in fact, make my delivery on time this morning. And I didn't get lost. +1

Clearing the first hurdle, it was on to my next load, which is set to deliver tomorrow in Atlanta. After I got loaded, I had plenty of time to get over here to west Georgia for the evening, leaving me with a short hop to Atlanta in the morning. +2

I had requested to be home this weekend, and also part of Monday so I could run some errands after the holiday. My dispatcher lined the loads up to make it happen. +3

Seeing as how I'd been in the truck all day, I hopped out to sit on a bench in the shade to get some fresh air. "I'm gonna sit with ya," said a young woman as she stopped and sat next to me for a bit while she smoked (fortunately, I was upwind) and texted on her cell phone. After a couple of employees came out and talked to her for a few minutes, I deduced that she, too, was an employee. Apparently she wasn't on duty yet, because she wasn't wearing a uniform. So, we sat and I smiled and nodded back politely at the people who passed by and did the same. Soon, my bench mate got up and went inside. About five minutes later, a gentleman that had smiled and nodded as he passed by approached me with two cokes and a bag of hamburgers. "This is for you and your girlfriend." Now, obviously the young lady isn't my girlfriend and I had just eaten, so I wasn't particularly hungry. Nevertheless, I was immediately touched by his generosity and this random act of kindness. +4

And then I started to wonder just what I'd done to warrant his generosity. I gave myself a quick sniff test; nope, still fresh (I'd showered recently). I rubbed my face; still pretty smooth. I glanced down at my attire; I was wearing clean, contemporary clothing. I don't know what it was. As he was walking away, he seemed to offer as an explanation that he thought I was someone he had spoken with previously in the parking lot. Ahhh, now I understand. Being mistaken as a bum: -3

Looks like I'm still in the black. Good times.