I finally made the two deliveries in Des Moines this morning after spending last night in a hotel. This stupid load that should have taken at most three days has had me tied up for 6 days. Absurd. The final insult added to financial injury was when I called to check the balance on my fuel card as today is payday. My payroll was a whopping $24. WTF? I got on the phone to the boss. I have bills to pay. It seems that we got screwed on the rate for the load I hauled up out of FL. Big time scre...
After making the Chicago delivery this morning I beat it out of there as quickly as I could and then stopped at a truckstop on I-80 for some breakfast and to make contact with the two Des Moines locations to notify them that I will be making their deliveries tomorrow morning. Or so I thought. The one was no problem at all, but when I contacted the second one I was told that they are having some sort of bullshit grand opening open house sort of thing tomorrow and won't be accepting any deli...
The day got off to a bit of a shaky start but otherwise didn't go too badly. A portion of this load of conduit, a stack of elbows, shifted on my way to the first stop but stayed in place well enough for me to get there. After they unloaded their stack I carefully loosened the straps on the shifted stack so as to not release pressure too quickly and cause the whole thing to fall over and off the trailer. I then climbed up (the stack was on the top deck of course) and began pulling and shovi...
Geez, I could have easily gone postal the past couple of days. I decided to switch from XM to Sirius a couple of days ago so I bought a Sirius radio receiver. I have yet to actually activate the damn service. I've stopped at no less than five different places that sell Sirius radios so that I could buy an activation card in order to start the service. Two of the five don't sell the cards for some damn reason, one sold them but the idiot clerk didn't know how to activate the damn thing, a...
I'm parked for the night in North Little Rock, AR after spending last night in a motel in a little burg known as Seven Oaks, TX. The motel was cheap, the lounge wasn't overly busy, and it was a relaxing evening. The drive up to here today wasn't too bad but could have been better if there weren't so many complete morons on the roads. Happens every holiday weekend. One in particular had me about ready to run her dumb ass off in the ditch if for no other reason than the safety of the motorin...
I made delivery at the Army Depot in Texarkana, TX this morning despite having a little too much liquid fun last night. I felt better than I expected when I woke so I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed on over there. It actually went pretty smoothly for a change. I cruised on down towards Houston after that. I'm parked about an hour North of there. When I got here I fueled up although I was only down to about 50%. I wanted the free shower that comes with fueling up. I had my shower and sha...
The past couple of days have been a tad tough. I picked up some stuff, steel parts, in Milwaukee and hauled them up to the yard, loaded and secured my own load which was a mixture of air units, a military truck cab, and a pavement roller, and started for OK. I had to make delivery in Seminole, OK before noon on Thursday as they were knocking off for the holiday weekend. I need to make delivery at the second stop, Texarkana, TX (military base) before 1:00PM Friday as that's when they knock ...
When I arrived at the delivery location this morning I spent a couple of minutes talking to the guy before I started working on untarping and unsecuring the load. I made sure he knew that the thing had been sitting outside in the weather, was rusted, and that it had been loaded in the rain. I didn't want him bitching at me for it's condition, especially after going through the trouble of tarping it. He informed me that he knew that it had been sitting outside for a month and that they were...
Dispatch finally called me around 1:00 this afternoon with a load for me to pick up. I had to scramble to get down to Sebring, FL to get the machine picked up before 5:00. Geez, that's cutting it close. I rolled in there at 4:30. Naturally it was raining the whole time I was loading, securing, and tarping (I hate those damn things) this machine. Makes a lot of sense to load a machine outside, in the rain, and then want it tarped (I hate those damn things). Umm, hey dummy, the damn thing is...
My mother went to the doctor today. The doctor informed her that she has cancer yet again. This is the third time. First it was her throat, then breast, and now it's on her ear. I'm assuming the cancer on her ear must be some form of skin cancer, but that's more of a guess than anything. Naturally she is upset about it as she's been through the whole chemo/radiation thing twice already. I had to get a little harsh with her as she was doing the whole "why doesn't God just let me die" thing....
Earlier I went out to shop for a few items to help spruce up the new place. I wound up buying three prints to help decorate the walls and a small decorative fountain for that one corner in the living room that just needed something . The artwork pieces are all prints but I still like them anyway. These two I hung in the living room: And I bought this one for the kitchen: And of course the cheesy little fountain: Nothing really inspiring but they make ...
It's a very relaxing and enjoyable morning at home sweet home. I slept in, well for me anyway, and didn't get up until 7:30. I put on a pot of coffee, a little bummed because I couldn't grind the beans Elie sent me, and just sort of chilled a bit while it was brewing. There are things I need to do today such as making a grocery run, buying a coffee grinder, and returning to my truck to get my laundry which I left yesterday as I was just too damn tired to fool with it at the time. But none ...
I finally made it home late this afternoon. It felt really good to be home again after a month of road bullshit. After dropping my bags on the living room floor I immediately walked over to the c-store for a 12 pack. I wanted to kick back in my recliner with a cold one or two. When I got back I fired up the computer so I could order a pizza for dinner. No internet service! What???!!!! It was supposed to be transferred to the new place a month ago for crying out loud! I looked over at the m...
Typical BS for today. I got up early so I could make it to the GA delivery point, a construction site, on time. I got there 15 minutes early. I then proceeded to waste the morning while these guys tried to figure out how they were going to unload this 14,000 lbs generator. The way the road was graded it was impossible for me to get close to the pad they had pured without getting my trailer hung. I'm pulling a double drop and there is only about 4 inches of clearance. Also, the crane operat...
I still haven't quite got over my amusement at the uproar brought on by the media and certain spotlight hounds over the phrase "nappy headed ho". Frankly, I think it's just hilarious. If that offends you, tough shit go read something else because I think it's damn funny. Seems a lot of other people still find it amusing as well. Today I stopped into the truckstop to get a bite to eat after delivering my load and picking up another military truck from the factory to haul down to the yard. A...