Slow Start To The Day

Published on December 11, 2006 By MasonM In Life Journals

After a good night's sleep I got up around 6:30 for some coffee. I wanted to get as early a start as possible. I'm about an hour from Gulfport which is the closest truckstop of any size. Starting at 7:00 I've been calling the number for where I am supposed to pick up so that I can get directions and let them know I am on my way.

I guess they don't get an early start on their day. I don't know for certain but I suspect that it's a National Guard post and they may not come in until 9:00. So much for getting an early start.

I had to crawl up under the truck right after I fired up the big diesel. There was coolant dripping down. I found the problem, it was leaking from a hose clamp that was probably not fully tightened when they replaced the EGR system a little while back. I tightened the clamp as best as could, which seemed to stop the drip. I'll have the shop take a look at it when I get back to the yard.

Socrates is in rare form this morning. I guess he had a good night's sleep as well and is currently in "crazy mode".

I must have slept wrong or something during the night because I woke with a very painful back and hip. I took 800mg of Advil and am trying to work out the stiffness. It doesn't make for comfortable driving.

I think I may be getting arthritis. My hands, shoulder joints, neck, and of course the bum hip are all feeling quite stiff and sore more and more often these days. The shoulder joints bother me the most when I am trying to drive. Getting old sucks. As much as I hate to, I may have to break down and see the doc some day soon. Not that there's really much to be done for it.

Hopefully I'll be rolling soon and feeling like I am actually making some progress. This sitting around when I'm ready to roll can be quite the test of patience at times. I really need to make some money after last week's debacle. Bills to pay and all that.

Comments

Dr Guy

on Dec 11, 2006

I think I may be getting arthur-itis too. Or just getting old!

MasonM

on Dec 11, 2006

Or just getting old!

Well, they say it really isn't the age that matters, it's the mileage

MasonM

on Dec 11, 2006

I finally got the load picked up after some rather angry phone calls. I called dispatch and informed them that I was still not getting an answer at the number provided by the broker and had also been unable to reach said broker.

Dispatch finally got in touch with the broker and discovered that she had provided us with a wrong phone number. One digit was a 6 instead of a 7 as she had originally said.

She tried to lie her way out of it and say that I had written it down wrong when I had talked to her. The dispatcher knew that was a lie because I had never spoken with her; she never returned my call after my leaving a voice mail and I had kept dispatch in the loop the entire time. Also, the sheet she had faxed to dispatch had the same wrong number on it. So much for her lies. Also, dispatch knows that I own up to my mistakes.

Communication is important. Had I not kept dispatch informed of everything as I went along the broker's lie may have seemed plausible despite my reputation for being honest and forthcoming. As it is, thanks to good communications she was made out for the liar she is. I won't pull another load for her. I could have had this picked up Saturday and been making delivery in WI today if the broker had bothered to return my call. She cost me money.

Once I had the correct number I made contact, got directions, and went on in to pick up the load. It's a Hummer equipped with a radar unit and a generator trailer.

Now I'm having a bit of breakfast before making tracks for WI. The load is pretty light, about 11,000lbs, but I'm not expecting any bad road conditions this time so that shouldn't be a problem.

Ah well, another day another dollar two ninety eight.

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