03/23/2010

The devil is in the details.

A mantra I should exercise now and again. Anyway the appointment read

Delivery 03/24 00:00-00:00 and if I had been thinking I would have remembered that means it is to be delivered on the 24 ^th, but the exact appointment time is to be determined. I went on the assumption (and you know what that will get you) that 7am was the target time. Today I learned a little before noon that the appointment time is 11am.

That means yesterday I fore go the Chinese buffet for no good reason. I could have actually slept in today, not that it would have really happened. I am always up before the chickens. Anyway perhaps next time I won't forget what 0:00-0:00 really means. I still put on about 500 miles today before I found out and that is good enough and tomorrow I drive the last couple of hours in and get unloaded.

With this being a dedicated glass trailer there are not many choices once I am unloaded. So I will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

For today …. Have a good day

Bookerz out

03/22/2010

Well productivity was the word of the day. No sooner did I get down to Greensboro, NC and get unloaded. When I get two not just one load assignments. Fortunately they pulled the first off me before I could work up a sufficient head of dread. It was for Brooklyn, NY and no matter how much I may be feeling my oats about my trucking driving skills. I don't think I want to deliver in downtown NYC or one of its boroughs. What I did end up with South Easton, MA has a couple of hundred more miles to it and doesn't involve getting off the Brooklyn express way.

Figuring I would be pulled into Laurinburg and get something that heads out in the morning. I had been planning on stocking up on some Chinese food at the local eatery and then sleeping it off till morning. This load shot that idea in the butt cause with a 7am Wednesday delivery appointment I needed to get a couple of hundred miles knocked out today. Hence I am back in Virginia at the 40mm on I-95. That leaves right at 600 miles to cover tomorrow. I've been to this location once before. In fact it was the last run of my training program almost a year and a half ago. It is situated in an industrial park so parking overnight won't be a problem. Good enough!

Have a good day

Bookerz out

03/21/2010

Well today went off without a hitch. I stopped at the TA in Eaton, OH to let them figure out what my turn signal problem was. Somewhere along the line the insulation on the right turn signal line and the marker lights line had worn off and they had fused together. So... when I had the maker lights on the right turn signal or four ways wouldn't work properly. Anyway 2and a half hours later that is fixed and a couple of lights replaced and away I went.

I only made it to the first rest area in Virginia before I ran out of hours. That leaves me a little over a 2 hour drive into the consignee in the morning. With a fuel stop and the pretrip I am going to be later than my original eta, but it is an appointment window and not a set time so it won't be a problem.

Odd are once unloaded I'll be headed over to Laurinburg. There was quite a few of us pulling out of Porter, IN so the likely hood of my getting a glass load is up for debate we will just have to wait and see.

Have a good day

Bookerz out

03/20/2010

Last time I blogged I was in Mount Airy, Nc. They had the Brintle's parking lot jammed like sardines in a can. After winding my way to the the fuel pumps and then squeezing my way out the rest of the day was pretty mundane. I made it to just inside of Illinois on I-74. That left me slightly over 200 miles for Friday morning's delivery.

Nice thing about delivering here is you just back the trailer into the bay untarp and unsecure the load and your done. No waiting for them to unload it. But waiting for my next load assignment made up for the efficient unload process. In fact it was almost to late for me to make it prior to the end of my fourteen hour day and if there hadn't been several truck stops within a quarter mile of this place I might have been in a pickle.

The loading went fast and it was Friday so finding a parking spot wasn't bad at all. I decided to do my 34 hour reset right here at the Pilot. Not my favorite kind or truck stop especially for a 34 hour reset but the showers are free. Gotta take the good with the bad.

My turn signals are acting screwy so tomorrow on I-70 I'm gonna stop at the TA just inside of Ohio and have them fix it. Thought about waiting till Monday when odds are they will pull me into Laurinburg, but having them fix the truck in the middle or beginning of the week is not very conducive to getting work assignments and tallying up a good amount of miles.

Tomorrows destination should be Mount Airy, NC again, but that all depends on how long it takes the TA to get me back under way. We will just have to wait and see.

Until then......

Have a good day

Bookerz out

03/17/2010

What do you do when the day comes off exactly as planned? Admittedly I was lucky another driver going to the same place had arrived at 6am and still had another 2 hours or so to wait before his load would be ready. Apparently the trailer type he needed wasn't available earlier when it was suppose to be. As I said today went off perfectly and I ended the day at Brintle's in Mount Airy, NC.

I tried they buffet here for the first time and while not the best buffet I've encountered on America's highways it was far from the worst. When I woke up we are parked in here like sardine's and a few drivers decided to make a few spots.

On a somewhat sad note they have changed my FM today. I've been moved off the trainee board. During normal economic times this would probably would have happened quite a while ago. Anyway her sarcastic and slightly smart ass rapier wit will be sorely missed, especially when I am taking myself too seriously. All our Fms in Laurinburg are good from what I can tell, but she was my first. So with the changing of the guard we march on.

Hope you have a nice day

Bookerz out

03/15/2010

Well today's consignee is just a block away from another I delivered to a couple of weeks ago. Once untarped it took them aibout an hour to get started with the unloading, but they started it went pretty quick. Once unloaded I battened down the trailer equipment and took off. There isn't anyone down in this neck of the woods to load this kind of trailer. So northward was the mantra today.

As I meandered up I-95 I got the deadhead order to Laurinburg. In the afternoon they changed their mind and sent me a work assignment. I'll be picking up a load in Richburg, SC and taking it to Dewitt, IA for Friday. So this is turning into quite the nice week as far as mileage goes.

I could have put another 100 miles on but the lazy bug got a hold on me and wouldn't let go. Well the target for today is Mount Airy, NC. That is assuming the load is ready for pick up.

Have a nice day

Bookerz out

03/15/2010

What a nice weekend! Mostly chilled out and ate good food and watched some movies on the tube. I was wondering now that we are digital can we still call it the “tube”.

We watched The Hurt Locker on VOD (video on demand) and either it wasn't as liberal/anti- war as I expected or I missed the point. In either case we enjoyed watching the movie.

We also had breakfast for dinner, my personal favorite. With it we had a desert of fresh strawberries, blueberries, black berries, raspberries with a whip cream base. Life is good!

Well onto today. I got up when my wife normally gets up to goto work 2am. By the time I myself primed with a cup of coffee. I was pulling out of the house shortly before 3am. That would put me in Southern Florida mid to late afternoon. And so it was. It leaves me about 150 miles to drive in the morning by 8am. At which point due to the trailer type I have I should be dead heading upto Laurinburg, Nc tomorrow. That will put me back up there sometime late Wednesday.

Oh BTW the song of the day was … Sway by Dean Martin

Have a nice day

Bookerz