I got up nice and early this morning, before the sun came up, so I could get rolling towards my final stop. I wanted to get it delivered as early ass possible so I could get back up to Huntsville, TX and get my return load picked up. Dispatch had been told that the shipper in Huntsville only loaded until noon, but a quick call to them told me that they were actually loading until 5:00 which took the pressure off. But I still wanted to get it done as early as possible.
On my way to my delivery I had made it South of Houston when a Texas DOT cop decided to pull me over and give me a roadside inspection. Damn! I really didn't have time for this crap but I didn't have a choice, he was in charge. He was a nice enough fellow for a professional dick.
Luckily I had caught up my log book before I got rolling. I had seriously considered just waiting until I got unloaded but something told me to do it before I rolled. Damn glad I did. He went over my log book, gave my truck a quick inspection, and invited me to join him in his pick up while he called in my license and registration. As it was raining I would have rather stayed in my truck, but like I said, he was in charge.
As everything was in order he printed out the inspection report showing no violations. I signed it and he gave me a copy. I then thanked him as he had just earned me a $100 bonus from my boss for a clean DOT inspection. He just laughed and told me to be careful out on the road as it was a holiday weekend and there were a lot more dumbasses running around than usual. We shared a laugh over that and I got the hell out of there.
When I got to the delivery things went a little sideways. It seems that the guy I had talked with and who had said that they could take delivery of this pump on Saturday morning was off until Tuesday and not only had he not bothered to tell anyone that I wass coming, they didn't have any forklift operators working today. Damn!
After some discussion I asked the guy I was talking with if he would sign for the delivery if I unloaded it. He said the he couldn't let anyone operate the big forklift who wasn't certified for it. I pulled out my federal certification card showing that I was certified to operate any forklift or crane up to 50 ton capacity. He had backed himself into a corner and had no choice but to agree.
I unloaded the 15 ton pump and set it where he wanted it. He signed my paperwork and I got rolling again.
I then went to Huntsville and got loaded with 44,000 lbs of bagged potting soil, in the rain. Yuck. It was an unholy muddy mess at that place. My clothes were filthy by the time I was finished strapping it all down.
At that point I decided that I really needed a nice cold beer. The only place that I know about that was a reasonable distance from me is this little motel bar in Seven Oaks, TX, about an hour away and not really exactly along the route I should be taking, but what the hell. I put it in the wind and headed that way.
I am sitting here now enjoying a few cold ones (after changing clothes and washing up a bit). It's fairly quite at the moment as there aren't more than 8 or 9 people here. There is one woman, I am searching for the right word here....scuzzy, trashy, slutty, well, I don't know just pick one, who was trying to get overly friendly with me for a bit. I managed to show enough disinterest that she finally moved on, but somehow I suspect that before I leave she'll be back. Why couldn't it be the really cute one? Ah well, such is life as an ugly man LOL
I really worked my butt off today, and am feeling it now. My shoulders and arms are sore as hell. I'm gonna be really stiff in the morning, and I don't mean in the usual way.
Oh, while I was untarping that stupid pump down in Sweeny this morning I was sweating a lot and that stupid nicotine patch came off. I'm about to give up on those damn things. Tomorrow I'm going to try and swing into a Wally World and pick up some lozenges. I can use the patches on my driving days and use the lozenges on my working days. I've been jonesing for a smoke most of the day because of not having the patch on, but screw it. I did quit after all.