Extremely Annoyed!

The past 24 hours have been frustrating to say the least. Delays at the shipper put me half a day behind and now, I've lost the other half of the day to the shop.

I picked up not too far from our terminal with my home time load. That is the load intended to get me out to California.

Since I was so close, our H. R. department asked me to swing by the terminal to sign an I-9 form. They somehow lost the one that was supposed to be in my file.

The little voice in my head was screaming NOOOOOO!!! Don't do it! But, I couldn't really think up a good excuse to tell them when they discovered I was several hundred miles away so, I went.

The only problem with going to the terminal is they have this inspection bay that you have to go through whenever you enter the yard. It's right there by the gate so, you can't avoid it.

The inspection bay has it's good points and it's bad. On one hand it's a lot cheaper for them to find a mechanical violation than it is for the D.O.T. To find it. But, on the other hand if they find something, now you have to go over to the shop and get in line. And wait. And wait. And wait!

If you don't have a load, this is great. You get paid to sit around and do nothing. But if you do... They're supposed to put you on a priority list and you should get worked on ahead of the trucks without loads.

The head honcho in the inspection bay said he would notify the shop I was loaded and to put me on the priority list but, after five hours I became restless and went into the shop to inquire why I hadn't been taken care of yet.

The service writer says I'm not on the priority list. What? Grrrr!

I contact my dispatcher and ask him to send another email explaining why I need priority out to the shop. He says he'll take care of it.

Fast forward another five hours and still no move. Again I check with the shop and again I'm told I'm not on the priority list!

Now, two different people have told me they would notify the shop to put me on the priority list, and the shop keeps saying that I'm not on it!?!?

Is something wrong with the inter office email or what?

Yet again another call to dispatch to upgrade the urgency level a notch or two and more hurry up and wait.

Don't know what tomorrow will bring. But, if they yank me out of my truck in the middle of the night to work on it, I will not be a happy camper!

Goin' Home

Going home! Just not yet. I arrived at one of our regular shippers an hour early expecting the load to not be ready. They typically run behind so, I kinda expected this. Usually I call ahead but, for some reason, today I didn't.  No worries though. I have enough time, for once, to still make it to the other end if, they have it ready by the time my hours reset in the morning.

Not looking forward to the dentist but, it's gotta be done sooner or later. might as well get that of my todo list. But, I am happy to head home for some time with the family.

I love the open road and all the places I get to go on my little adventures across the country but, something the wife said today has got me thinking.  I just might be ready for something that keeps me closer to home.

Wow! A whole year without a post. Guess I lost the blogging bug?

Back to work already?

Had a great hometime. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. First day back and I have to sit in a truck stop for four hours to have a tire changed on the trailer I just picked up.

Total forward progress for today... 20 miles!

Well it's been a fun few days. The fun all started a few days ago when I received a call from one of the load planners asking if I could swap loads with another driver and then drive an additional 25o miles. I checked how many hours I had left to drive for the day as well as how many hours I had left on my 14. I told him I had the driving hours but was running out on my 14 due to a lengthy delay earlier in the day. This didn't phase him and he put the load on me anyway.

I pulled off at the next truck stop and proceeded to wait for the other driver to arrive for four hours. Now with only three hours left on my 14 there was no way I could make it.

I called dispatch to inform them but, the day crew had left the building and now the drastically understaffed night shift was there. They don't have the man power to do much at this point. The chance of finding another driver in the area with available hours are slim at best during the day.

Their advise... Just get rolling with it and we'll try to find another swap.

If you guessed that the swap never happened. You're right!

I made it to the receiver seven hours late and ended up waiting til the next morning to get unloaded.

This started a domino - chain reaction for the next two days causing me to be late to every scheduled pick up and delivery. Causing yet another dreaded swapfest to ensure on time delivery.

This irks me every time this happens!

I must say ANOTHER giant humongous thanks to Josh for getting the GPS software back on line after I tried to kill it today! It's complicated to explain, but the software won't run on the operating system on the new laptop so Josh installed a virtual operating system within the supplied system. In essence, I'm running two systems simultaneously. One for the GPS and one for everything else.

Made decent time and miles today so I'm a little ahead of schedule, which is just how I like it.
Way more fun to be ahead than behind!

Spending the night in OKC where it is hot and muggy!!! Another long day tomorrow to keep ahead of schedule, which should put me somewhere in the middle of Tennessee, and then a nice easy day on Monday. :-)

Back on the road again. I must say a giant humongous thanks to my son for getting the new laptop up and running. Getting the GPS software to work on this thing was nothing short of a miracle!

I pulled out of San Diego this morning on my way to North Carolina. Hauling premade salads.
After North Carolina I'm planning on heading up to Maine... Don't know if that's where I'll be going or not, but if you never make plans, then you'll never go!

R.I.P. Della :-(

Hurry Up And Wait!

I,m sitting at one of our regular shippers with just a little extra time on my hands so, time for another post.

When I received the preplan for this load last night, I sorta knew this would be the case, based on previous experience with this particular shipper.

I'm at a paper mill in Arkansas. And they have such a reputation for not being ready, our dispatch puts a little note in the comments section of the dispatch to note what time you arrive, get loaded (if it's not a preloaded trailer) and what time you depart so they can bill them for tying up one of their trucks for an unnecessarily excessive amount of time.

Today they're having a "production delay".

I arrived around noon after a three hour drive from my previous drop and check in at the trailer inspection area (they inspect all the inbound trailers to ensure they're clean, odor free, don't have any sharp protrusions into the cargo area and no signs of leaks) and after waiting 20 minutes for the trailer inspector to finish up a personal phone call, I was informed of the a fore mentioned delay.

No explanation for the delay. Just come back at ten p.m. and they'll check and see if the product is done and ready to be loaded.

Great! A ten hour wait and no guarantee it will even be ready. And now it's a live load to boot. Guess I'm not making any forward progress today!

Watermelon Anyone?

I'm spending the night in a little mom & pop truck stop just outside of Boston, MA. Or a they say around here Bawston. It always amazes me, traveling around this great nation of ours. We live in the same county, speak the same language, yet different parts of this county sound so different from one another.

I've been a little busy the past few days so, I try to catch you up on all the fun.

After finally getting rid of the three mystery pallets they sent me up to Illinois, just outside of Chicago to pick up a load of frozen pizzas. The take and bake kind you find in your grocery store freezer already precooked ready to eat, that is, after you reheat them slightly.

Only they're not frozen when I get them. Nope they're still fresh from the oven and we get to cool them down in the trailer as we drive them from point a to point b.

Which means two days of listening to that reefer running on high trying to achieve -10 degrees. which it never did. Almost, but not quite.

The reefer unit has two speeds, high and low. Low speed sounds like a lawnmower at idle. Not too loud and after you get used to it, can actually lull you to sleep. It's a constant droning sound that blocks out all the other noises from all the other trucks.

On the other hand, high speed sounds more like a chainsaw and can wake the dead! I've had many a night trying to fall asleep with that thing in high speed and have found it to be quite difficult. I've tried earplugs which work well, sometimes a little too well, causing me to sleep right through my alarm the next morning. So they have to be used cautiously.

After the pizzas I picked up a load of watermelons right out of the field. It's only the second time in three years of doing this that I've picked up a load from the field. Usually the load goes from the farm to a brokered warehouse and we pick up from that warehouse but, I guess this time someone decided to cut out the middle man.

Rather interesting watching how they get the product on the trailer when there is no loading dock.

They would bring the melons in a flatbed trailer towed by your standard John Deere tractor, then offload them with two distinctly different forklift trucks.






The yellow forklift always went first. Sometimes he would pick up one box and some times two and then the green forklift would pick up one or two depending on how many the yellow one had.
I never quite figured out a pattern but, they seemed to know what they were doing, even if those observing them didn't.

I never asked them why they didn't just pick up three at a time so I can only assume that it would be too heavy for either forklift to handle.

What the photos don't show is the poor guys in the back of that trailer. Their job was to take the boxes of the tail where the forklifts would deposit them and move them into position with a hand pallet jack. I felt for them. It was 107 degrees that day! So when it was my turn in the loading position, I kicked the reefer on for the guys in the back. They were most appreciative.


---------------------------------Lunch for the crew----------------------------------

What A Day That Was

Or should I say days? If you read the previous post before you read this one, I left off thinking I was empty and without a load going anywhere. You see, I typed that post as I was being unloaded. Before any of what follows transpired.

The facility I was at doesn't want you in their way so they instruct you to stay in your truck and they will bring your bills out to you when they are finished.

So... when one of the lumpers (the people that do the unloading) came out and asked me to move my truck so they could get another one in that particular door and, he didn't have my paperwork, I knew something was up. I just didn't know what.

So, I obliged them, moved my truck out of the door, and found a spot out of the way so I could go back inside and find out where my paperwork was.

I went to the back of the trailer to close the doors and found out why they didn't have my paperwork ready. There were three pallets still in the trailer.

At this point a few scenarios ran through my head. There is another stop on this load that dispatch forgot to mention. The product is somehow damaged or is the wrong product. Or they weren't done unloading me and they moved me out of that door so they could get one of their trucks in there and I'll have to wait God only knows how long til another door opened up so they could take those last three pallets off.

As I was walking across the parking lot to the receiving office, I convinced myself that it was the latter. I could feel my blood pressure rising with each step.

I went inside about ready to pop, but I kept it in check when I checked in at the receiving window. I told them one of the lumpers asked me to pull out but there were still three pallets on the trailer.

The lady on the other side of the glass informed me that the pallets in question were overage. Whoever loaded it at the other end apparently couldn't count and they double loaded those three pallets.

Which begs the question. Where was the driver? Our company policy is that we're to observe every load to ensure we don't get shorted and also to make sure some hotshot forklift operator doesn't punch any new holes in the inside of the trailer.

Either way, somebody somehow, somewhere didn't do their job and it looks like yours truly is going to get to deal with it, like it or not.

I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn't going to have to wait around all night for another door to open up but, having to deal with the extra merchandise is no picnic either.

I said that this happens all the time and that most places just keep the extra product and add it to the bills. It was then that she rather rudely informed me that they only order what they need to fulfill their customers orders. They are not a storage facility, nor did they have the room to store it. She gives me only the coversheet back which has none of the product codes I'll need and refuses to give me any of the detail sheets with said product codes on them or make copies of them... I'll be back!

OK then. Let the fun begin. A quick call to my people to report the overage and the first question they have. "What's the product code on the first item?" I tell her what just transpired inside and she tells me go back inside and they will give them to me.

I'm beginning to feel a bit like a yo yo but, back inside I go. Only this time I get the detail sheets, a slightly nicer attitude and a smile. I don't even want to know what they said to her.

Well by this time it's too late for them to call the shipper to see what they want to do with the extras so, off to bed to wait for daylight.

The next morning I'm stirred from sleep by my phone ringing. It's OS&D (Over/Short and Damaged) and they want me to take the extras down to an LTL (Less than TruckLoad) company in Terre Haute, IN about 60 miles away and they'll haul it back to the shipper.

A quick drive down to Terre Haute, check in at the office and they ask "It's not a refrigerated load is it?" Nobody thought about this til now? I didn't think I needed to mention this because the people that sent me here already have all this information, and nobody likes it when some dumb driver tell them how to do their job.

No surprise here. They refused to accept the freight. I already figured this when I pulled in and not a reefer trailer in sight, no refrigered storage section in the warehouse. I sorta saw this one coming.

Man the phones. We ain't done yet. Call OS&D yet again to see what we do now. I'm told to sit tight while they figure this one out. Oh gee, I can't wait.

A couple of hours later their big solution, take it back to the original receiver. What, they suddenly have room now? I don't know why but, I just knew this wasn't going to happen.

Drive back to Danville and they won't let me in. I'm told I have the wrong PO#. So I call receiving to try to get this straightened out and guess who answers the phone. Oh she remembered me. Attitude and all.

It's obvious at this point this is not going anywhere with her so I call my people again but, this time I'm too late. They've already taken off for the day so another night of waiting it out to see what the morning will bring.

Fast forward through all the boring sleeping part and it's now the morning of the 18th. This load was supposed to finalize on the 16th. I've accumulated a whopping 120 miles in the past two days going back and forth. I should be a thousand or more miles into the next run but, I can't seem to get this one off my back.

I call OS&D and and they don't have a solution yet. Again I'm told to sit tight. Oh I heard that one before. It's five o'clock in the afternoon before they call back.

Go back down to Terre Haute. Back to that same LTL company. They contacted the shipper and the product that is still on the trailer does not require refrigeration so they can take it.

Are you sure? It's mayonnaise and sauerkraut. Yep, they're sure. OK then. Fine by me. If it means I get to get rid of it I don't care if we dump it in an alley at this point.

Back down to Terre Haute one more time. This time they do unload me and finally, finally, I'm empty.

Off to the nearest truck stop to lick my wounds and call it a night. Hopefully tomorrow will bring something new. Something to... I don't know. Texas maybe.

Not Texas Again

The last post left off with me in Texas. Anyone who knows me knows I loathe Texas. Not that it's a bad state or anything. I'm just always there. I was lured to this line of work with a promise of seeing the country. Not just Texas.

Anyway, Since Texas, I took a load from Conroe, TX (about an hour north of Houston) to Panama city, FL. From there I deadheaded up to our drop yard in Orlando to pick up a load of condiments going to Danville, IL. The bulk variety for the food service industry. I specify, because last time I hauled condiments, it was the little single serving packets for McDonald's. The wife got a kick out a whole truck filled with nothing but little packets of ketchup, mustard, bar-b-q sauce, etc.

Back to the point of this post... I'm driving along today about an hour or so out from my receiver when the Qual-Comm lights up with the next load. Pick up in Franklin, IN going to... Houston, TX

Not Texas again! I about through the Qual-Comm unit out of the window in disgust.

As I'm muttering to myself "I just came from Texas! Don't they have something going to one of the other 47 states?!? " The Qual-Comm beeps again, and just like that, no more Texas.

Makes me wonder if they could hear me... Hmmm...

About the only thing worse than going back to Texas is no load at all. Which is where I'm at now.

But hey, now the odds are back to 1 in 48. A really big one, but still, 1 in 48

South Dakota. Been there. Done that.

If you read the previous post, you know I was on my way to one of the two states I've yet to visit. Well I'm happy to report, I made it! It took a little longer than expected due to a pesky bearing on the reefer unit, but I made to and through South Dakota.

Now if I could only get to Maine.

The wife mentioned to one of her friends that I was going to SD and she said to see if I could find Wall Drug. Well I never actually saw Wall Drug but, you couldn't miss the signs.

Here's just a few...

































I know I haven't blogged in a while but, I have to tell you why. The "N" key on my keyboard was barley working. I had to push down on it extremely hard and wiggle my finger back and forth to get it to produce about 50. And then go back and delete the other 49 I didn't want.

By the time I did all that I forgot what it was I was going to type. Just a little frustrating. So... I didn't.

I've been back out since the 2nd and work has really picked up! Kinda a nice change from the absolute slowness that was the first four months of the year.

So far in the past eight days I've gone from San Diego to Bolingbrook, IL. From there down to Indianapolis to Pick up a load going to Atlanta, GA (AKA Hotlanta). Then a quick jaunt from there to Griffin, GA to pick up the next one going from Griffin to Flowood, Mississippi, Houston and San Marcos, TX

Only I didn't get to go to San Marcos. I completely ran out of hours upon arriving in Houston, so another driver had to take it the rest of the way.

I can't remember the last time I ran out of hours. It's been a while.

So I'm sitting and sweating in Houston. It is HOT HOT HOT. and HUMID. I don't do well In hot n humid. I'm from southern California. Where we do get our share of hot but, as they say, it's a dry heat.

I'm empty now with no preplan yet so, we'll have to wait to see what tomorrow brings. I hope something, anything. I don't think I can take another day of this.

So' Cal' hot is nothing compared to this!

Oh! I almost forgot. The bird count is up to 26. It was holding steady at 24 for over a year but, all of a sudden, two in two days.

South Dakota Here I Come!

I've been at this trucking thing for nearly three years now and yet somehow, I've never been to South Dakota. Ive been on all four sides of it but, have yet to set foot within that state.

It was a goal of mine to try and hit all 48 contiguous states within my first year of driving but, when that didn't happen I started counting months. When the months get to be too many, you start counting years. Kinda like when a toddler gets old enough to hold up three fingers, you stop saying how many months old they are.

I've gotten really close. I delivered to the west side of Sioux City, Ia just across the river from South Dakota a year or so ago. My wife probably still remembers me saying something like I could sneak over there and tell SRT I missed my turn or something.

Of course, as fate would have it, my dispatch sent me another load 300 miles away with only five hours to get there, back the same way I just came from. No time to lolly gag around on the other side of the river just to say I've been there.

Well that all changed today when they sent me a sweet run from Washington state to Georgia. Routed down the usual route through Oregon, Idaho, Utah...

Ahh yes Utah. I love Utah. It's one of the most beautiful, scenic states to drive through any time of the year. Right at the top of my list.

But today I love Utah for another reason. You see they have this law that you have to have a license plate on your trailer or they get to fine you 350 dollars. Seeing as this trailer doesn't have a license plate, I fired off a quick message to dispatch to remind them of this little fact, and seconds later a new route.

So now instead of heading South to Utah and turning East in Salt lake, I get to head East through Montana and straight down the middle of South Dakota before eventually making that turn to the South.

How does that song go... Oh yes... I fought the law and the law won.

Neverending Saga of Home Time

Shhh....it's the wife sneaking in a post again....

One of the recurring themes in our house and on our cell phones is "Home Time." There are many things to consider when planning home time.

What days do I have off?
What big events are happening?
What events would hubby enjoy being home for?

We generally schedule home time for every 4-6 weeks. If we really need him home then he'll come home earlier than that, but it's hard. He needs several days at home so that he can rest, unwind, restock and hit the road. So, 4-6 weeks out with 5-7 days home works for us.

We've had lots of "events" to work around lately... Josh's graduation, Eagle Court of Honor, Doctor's appointments... so we just had to schedule around one event at a time.

Well now, here come the holidays. Thanksgiving is so late this year that if he comes home for Thanksgiving, it will be hard to come home for Christmas. We talked it over and decided to suck it up and schedule him home for Christmas. It means he'll be out closer to 8 weeks and 8 weeks is REALLY hard. We both seem to struggle and be tired of the whole thing around 6 weeks.

I won't bore you with the details but we had this discussion about Thanksgiving and Christmas many times!! The silver lining to waiting until Christmas is that he might actually be home when I'm off work. (The year that I had a ton of time off and he got home the day before I went back to work because of a snow storm....wasn't soooo happy!)

So here was the plan... Request home time for the 24th and hope that it really happens and he's home for Christmas. If he's late, he'll still be home while I'm off. (I go back to work on the 5th).

WE DISCUSSED THIS.... and DISCUSSED this.... and I thought we had a plan....

and then.... hubby called me yesterday and said....

"I called my dispatcher and left her a message so I could find out how much the bonus is this year if we work on Christmas so I could decide whether it was worth it or not."

to which I responded

"Work on Christmas on purpose and you can come home long enough to fill out the divorce papers."

Was I too harsh?

Don't worry, he knew I was joking, but seriously.... I think the man gets bored in his truck and has nothing better to do than re-think about things over and over again just so he has something to do.

I think I made it pretty clear that I don't really care what the Christmas bonus is... It's a bigger bonus to be home. Besides, knowing his track record, he'll be a couple of days late, get the bonus and still be home for my vacation... and he'll still be married.... well maybe that's not such a bonus to him. ;-)

I'm Still Here

Four and a half months since the last post... What can I say? Writers block???
I just haven't been feelin' it lately... But, I do enjoy going back in the archives so to speak and seeing where I was, what I was doing, what I was hauling a few weeks, months or even a year or so ago. So... I thought I should start doing this ole' blog thing again.

On that note. I'm on my way from Georgia to Wisconsin hauling pool chemicals. It's a hazmat load and the wife just loves it when I'm hazmat boy. Or is it just the extra money she loves... Hmmmm.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention... I finally got to take Vermont off the list of states I've never been to. It's down to two. Maine and South Dakota. This run ends In Wisconsin rather near the I-90, which just happens to go right through the middle of South Dakota. Keep your fingers crossed for a run going west.


Until next time...

killing Time

I had a little time on my hands for once so, I thought I'd catch up the ole blog a little.

For those of you that read the previous post and wondered... Yes. I sat all weekend in New Jersey. Oh they were open but, the only contact number we had went to someone who was on vacation so, everyone assumed since the delivery instructions said to deliver Monday through Friday and no one was answering the phone, they must be closed. I hate when that happens.

I made it home for my son's birthday and graduation celebrations but, just barely. I actually made it home on my son's birthday. Good thing I requested to be home four days earlier.

But all good things must end and I'm back at the old grind again. I was on my way to Pennsylvania when my dispatcher contacted me today and told me I needed to swap with another driver.

Now if you've been reading this blog for a while you know how I loathe swaps. I always seem to be the one who gets the short straw in these exchanges. Seldom if ever does a swap benefit me.

So instead of Going to Pennsylvania I'm now heading to Florida. And the real reason for the swap reveals it's self. It's 800 miles from here and four days until it delivers. Looks like I'll be babysitting another one.

I don't know. Maybe I'll hurry down there and ride my bike around a little, Florida is nice and flat. Or we have a drop yard about 60 to 70 miles away from the receiver. Maybe they'll let me drop it off there and I could get one of those cruise ship loads that go from coast to coast, corner to corner. That would be nice!

This May Be A Looooooong Weekend

As the title implies this may be a long weekend. Hours of service restrictions and heavier than usual holiday weekend traffic caused me to not make it all the way to the receiver by the appointed time. A call to dispatch to find a swap was unsuccessful as was a call to the receiver. They had already closed for the day.

Details in the dispatch info on this run state that receiving hours for this particular receiver are Monday through Friday 6a.m. to 2p.m. only. Tomorrow being Saturday I'm not very optimistic at this point that there will be someone there over the holiday weekend.

This happened to me once before and is was a long weekend in a truck stop.

Only time will tell.

Been a while

Wow, I just looked back to see when the last time I posted was and whew. It's been a while.
Well, I could list a thousand excuses, I've been running like a mad man, I've been sick from the never ending cold, yada yada yada... Truth is I killed the Blogger bug! Yep, killed him deader than dead.

But the wife nagging me to just post something is far worse than the bite of that stupid little bug. I've never really been a writer but, if it makes people happy, who am I to deny them that. So I'll try to post a little more often. Try, but no guarantee.

I've been out since April 1st and too, too much has happened to go back and write it all now so, let's just pick it up here.

I delivered pureed strawberries and flavoring extracts to a company that makes it into yogurt for a rather large name brand who then slaps a label on and just lets you think they did all the work themselves. Rather interesting the things I learn about what goes into getting a product from farm or factory to it's eventual end user.

Having completely exhausted my 70 hours in only five days I limped over to a nearby truck stop to camp out for the next day and a half in order to get a fresh 70. Getting from receiver to truck stop was a bit tricky though.

I'm in the northeast and in the northeast they have expressways and parkways. Trucks can go on expressways but, are prohibited on parkways. So, while at the receiver I plot a route that I thought avoided any and all parkways. I was wrong.

I got on a little state route that virtually parallels the Interstate where the truck stop I want to end up at is located. The two roads eventually come together like a V several miles south of the truck stop. Only problem. I'm at the top of one leg of this V and the truck stop is at the top of the other leg. I noticed a state highway that cut across that V right through the middle thus eliminating several miles of unnecessary travel and time .

I checked the maps to see if there were any truck restrictions and couldn't find any so off I go.
I exited the highway and made a left under the overpass. So far so good. No signs saying trucks prohibited. I want to go straight so I get into the only lane that goes straight and pull up to a red light. It's then that while patiently (yeah right) waiting for the light to change I glance across the intersection and notice a sign about the size of a postage stamp. You know the one with a truck silhouette inside a red circle with a slash through it.

About the only thing I could do is really really tic off every one behind me and wait for the six million cars in the left turn lane to clear out and make a left back onto the highway I was just on, only now going in the opposite direction of the one I want to go. But no sooner than I start to roll the light changes and the opposing traffic starts coming straight at me. I don't know if you've ever driven in the northeast but, pretty much everybody has the "not in front of me" attitude I'm half way into their lane and they have to swing wide to go around me. Not one car stopped and let me finish my turn. Not one! A lot of them waved, quite a few honked and a couple wanted to know where I got my license. I'm always amazed how friendly they are up here.

Finally Their light changed and I just went. I'm sure my light was red but, I was so far into the intersection I could no longer see it. I got turned around and start heading in the right direction when I see a sign for another state highway with number rather than a name. The numbered ones are usually truck friendly so I take a chance and again exit. I turn the corner and glaring back at me is a huge sign mounted on one of those pipes that spans from one side of the road to the other "NO COMMERCIAL VEHICLES"

O.K. so I'm not the sharpest knife in the utensil drawer but, even I can take a hint. I again head north when I really, really want to be heading east but, they just won't let me. I got off at the same dreaded intersection I just had so much fun at. Ah deja vu. I turned back around and took the long way. They say the third time is a charm but, I just didn't have it in me to try again.
What should have taken 20 minutes took over an hour and the cookie crumb trail on my GPS looked like a pretzel but, I eventually made to my desired destination.

I thought the fun was over but, nay nay. It was just beginning. It's the middle of the day and usually the shower wait is brief if any. So I gather up all my shower gear and some clean clothes and head inside.

This particular truck stop chain is the last of the last to convert their showers to an automated system with a keypad entry lock rather than the "motel room" key system where you would have to wait in the hour long line at the register counter with all the people making purchases or picking up a fuel receipt to get your key.

The new system has a computer kiosk where you swipe your preferred driver card and it spits out a receipt with a "driver number" and a pin number. There is a monitor near the showers that will display your driver number next to your assigned shower and it also pages on the overhead PA system when one becomes available.

If one becomes available. Like the perfect storm, various elements all came together at the right time to keep that from happening any time soon.
1. The system was just installed and still had a few bugs
2. Half of the showers were being renovated
3. Frustrated drivers were leaving.
4. No one thought to put a time out timer on the system so that when a frustrated driver left or simply wasn't paying attention when their number was called for over an hour it would kick 'em to the curb and reassign their shower to the next person on the wait list.

When the maintenance person that cleans the showers has nothing to do and is in the lobby chit-chatting with the waiting drivers someone finally noticed that driver 121 had been up there for over an hour. a quick check of the showers revealed that all five were empty and waiting but that computer was going to keep calling driver 121 till the cows come home.

An hour and forty five minutes later I finally get to take my shower. This is why I take my showers at the end of the day. I may lose a little sleep but I'll stay on schedule. A delay like this could push an on time delivery into the next day if you arrive at your receiver after everyone has gone home.

Last but not least. I returned to my truck after my three hour shower just in time to witness a parking lot accident happen right across from me. Kinda sucks to see that happen because of a poor parking lot design but it made me think. Maybe my day wasn't so bad after all.

Stealing Pictures Again...

Ok, so hubby is still lagging on the old blogging, so I'm trying to help him out.

Here are a few random updates about life on the road....

1) He has a cold. I could share the list of reasons/possibilities he shared as to how he could have contracted said cold, but well... they were gross. Let's just say that some days he gets pretty disgusted with some of the less hygienic truckers he crosses paths with.

2) Cool thing is that he was pretty much out of hours when he dropped off his load yesterday and he was able to sleep and recuperate. That RARELY happens, so it's worth noting.

3) He encountered a grumpy person at his pick-up today that just had to complain about everything. You know what? It's not the trucker's fault that someone gives him the wrong load number or po number or whatever number he needs today. He's just the sorry sap that gets to be treated like crap by you....when you're annoyed about it.

Loving the Web Cam!!!

Hubby and son have been experimenting with the web cam we bought for Christmas and I am loving it. It is so fun to see where he is. I keep telling the reluctant blogger that his people would love to see a picture a day with a little description. He doesn't even have to tell a story.

And sooo... until he picks up the slack and starts posting more. I'll just pick a picture or two to share. (I stole them right off his webcam page....he doesn't even know I'm doing this...shhh....)

Hopefully he'll share the webcam page once he gets all the bugs work out.

~The Wife