A bunch of useless crap
Published on January 30, 2009 By MasonM In Blogging

Despite the mechanical issues and delays therein, I finally made delivery in PA yesterday. With business being slow I half expected to be spending the weekend sitting in PA. Once I unloaded I headed over to the nearest truckstop for some breakfast.

Dispatch called me before I finished eating. She said she wanted me to load in Cleveland Friday morning. The load is a two stop load, one in Milwaukee, WI and the other in Pocatello, ID, and is paying pretty well. I told her I'd be there to load first thing in the morning.

It's a load of fabricated steel. I've loaded out of this place before so I pretty well knew what I was going to be picking up, I just didn't realize how much I was picking up. Lots and lots of heavy steel pieces of assorted shapes and sizes. It took every chain I had, as well as a couple of straps, and several hours to get it all secured.

As the first stop, Milwaukee, isn't until Monday I can take my time heading over that way. Once loaded I rolled over towards Toledo and pulled into this truckstop to take a break. After everything that happened over the past week or so, and all of the hard running I'd been doing, I'm pretty beat and can stand a bit of rest.

Once I finish typing this up I am going to head over to the tavern for a couple of cold ones and some dinner. Money is tight but I have to eat anyway and I think I can afford a couple of beers with my dinner. The place has pretty good pizza and that sounds good right now. Should also make me sleep like a baby tonight, which I could use.

I plan to sleep in tomorrow, just waking up whenever I wake up. It's only six and a half hours up to WI from here so there's no need to get up early or anything. I've been getting up between 3:00 am and 5:00 am every morning for the past week or so and sleeping late sounds like a real treat right now.

Oh yeah, the one bad thing that happened today was I got my rig stuck in some snow in Cleveland right after I loaded. Had to call for a wrecker to pull me out of it. That kinda sucked and wasted some of my time, not to mention $300 of the boss's money, but that sort of thing happens this time of year and just goes with the territory. Not the first time one of our trucks has been stuck in the snow, and surely won't be the last.

Ok, haven't eaten a thing all day so time to go get some pizza.


Comments
on Jan 31, 2009

Good to see some news from you and know that you are moving once again.  I hope you enjoyed your pizza and cold ones and that you sleep like a log!  Things will pick up for you Mason.  Keep your fans in the loop!

judy

on Jan 31, 2009

Hi Mason,

I've always enjoyed reading about your exploits- would you ever consider trucking a little further north?

Here in Yellowknife the ice road to the diamond mines is opening up tomorrow and the folks who drive it say the pay is pretty lucrative. The mines are about two hundred miles north of town but there's no road access in, come winter time once all the lakes and rivers freeze up they build the road over it and haul all of the mines fuel, food and any heavy equipment they'll need for the year. I think this time it's somewhere on the order of 6000 loads they're going to move over the next two and a half months.

Anywho, just some food for thought if you ever want to get out of the rat race....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibbitt_to_Contwoyto_Winter_Road

http://www.rtl.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=30

http://jvtcwinterroad.ca/

 

on Jan 31, 2009

notronaj
Good to see some news from you and know that you are moving once again.  I hope you enjoyed your pizza and cold ones and that you sleep like a log!  Things will pick up for you Mason.  Keep your fans in the loop!

judy

Thanks. Yep, I did enjoy the pizza and couple of cold ones. Slept great, didn't wake until after 8:00.

on Jan 31, 2009

Artysim
Hi Mason,

I've always enjoyed reading about your exploits- would you ever consider trucking a little further north?

Here in Yellowknife the ice road to the diamond mines is opening up tomorrow and the folks who drive it say the pay is pretty lucrative. The mines are about two hundred miles north of town but there's no road access in, come winter time once all the lakes and rivers freeze up they build the road over it and haul all of the mines fuel, food and any heavy equipment they'll need for the year. I think this time it's somewhere on the order of 6000 loads they're going to move over the next two and a half months.

Anywho, just some food for thought if you ever want to get out of the rat race....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibbitt_to_Contwoyto_Winter_Road

http://www.rtl.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=30

http://jvtcwinterroad.ca/

 

Yep, I'm familiar with that area, been to Yellowknife a few times over the years. In order to do that hauling one must be a Canadian citizen, or so I'm told. Besides, I really do hate the cold.