PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein: Adobe Photoshop

Grumpy

Still Feeling the Grump. Sundeem was able to get the Dclimate fixed finally, and I am finally rolling. I am really hoping for a good week now that I am in motion. I did take the time and do one of the cute cartoon like pics, as you can see above. I am headed out to New Jersey, not my favorite place, but at least I am in motion.

I am still rocking the bad mood with a hard roll toward New Jersey. I just can't shake this mood, but I am sure that it has at least something to do with being down for 11 days. I have no idea how they are going to handle this, but I am hoping for the best. Tomorrow will tell, because I should get my settlement sheet. I still have to deal with DHS for Pennsylvania because they continue to take out for Jared even though that account is now closed. Time will tell what kind of fight that is going to be. The truck is a bit uncomforable. The freezer popped open on me. I am going to have to find a way to secure it or I am going to have to move it. A few people have said they have put theirs on their top bunks, I am going to consider it. I am behind in school and even with just a few weeks left, I am just not feeling it. Hopefully I will rally before it becomes a problem. Time will tell.

And thus the mood darkens. I got my settlement sheet, and because of Per-diem, my check is $200 and I OWE the company $110. This does not make me a happy camper. I am closer to Jason it would seem. But I am trying to grin and bear it. I am still running hard, and there are pre-plans like crazy sending me all over the place, including to Colorado, so that is something. It would be nice to spend a little bit of time in my soon-to-be new home state. But we know that pre-plans are like teh weather in Memphis - it changes a lot. I will wait and see. To top it off, it is HOT. So hot that the truck will actually Idel. Granted, the Dclimate is doing a really good job of keeping up even when the ambiant temperature is over 100, so we shall see.

Okay, for once things went well. I got into North Bergen NJ. right on time. And viola, before I even got off the site, they had another load for me, coming right out of the same place. I was able to drop and hook, get under my "empty" and drop it without moving it. Sometimes things work well. And stacked back-to-back runs? I really hope this is the wave of the future. It would be nice to get my next dispatch as soon as I drop my old one. Maybe the ole Optimizer is finally growing up a bit. I hope so. I am feeling a bit better now that I am rolling hard. Doesn't give me as much time to think. That is a good thing. I have not been able to catch up on school or get any of my creative stuff done. But maybe things will start to get better.

There is not much to say about today. I jumped in the driver seat, rolled, then shut down. I am listening to an boring ebook, but it is almost done. I shut down close to the end of my 11 hours drive. But at least I am in motion. I did hear from Keely today. She is really grumpy, not quite as bad as me, but still grumpy. She is having a rough time with her trainer and with the account. She has brought up a lot of issues about the training process and I am going to address these when I go to Atlanta in 10 days, assuming I can figure out who to address them with.

The hard roll continues. I am inbound to Colorado and running low on time. I know where I will be taking my 34 hour break. I still have not gotten my paper done for school, but I might be able to get it in on time. If not, I am doing okay in the class and can take a small hit, as long as this does not become habit. I am tired, but not nearly as grumpy.

A bit of a break today. Once I finished getting into Colorado, I was running well ahead. I managed to get my paper done and a few other things as well, mostly because I got a 22 hour break before rolling into the reciever. I love it when I am running ahead, even when they don't allow early delivery. I am still in a foul mood, but it is more tolerable today. Woo hoo.

See, I said that things were getting better and that I would break this mood. Nope, I called the name of the devil and the devil answered. I should know better. I rolled into the Peyton dock in Fountain CO. about half an hour ahead of time. I got checked in and pulled into a dock within a few minutes. All is hugs and puppies...and then I waited. And I waited some more. Then a bit more. A total of five hours in this dock. They use lumpers (which I did not have to pay by the way - so that is something) and they are slow slow slow. I was getting frustrated when I finally got released. I headed down to Pueblo to do my 34 hour break, then Dispatch asked if I would do a quickie in the morning. Run up to Denver, grab a load from the USX Voyager Drop yard, then back to Peyton. Of course I said yes. I mean, I will get my dention pay for the dock, so that is something.

Oye Vey. So, yesterday, I was stuck in the dock for a total of five hours. I received a total of $6.57 for that time. Now, I know we give the first two hours free, but an average of $2.00 an hour? Really? Something isn't right. But it is what it is, It has been a good week, so I figured I would stay positive. I hit the Denver drop yard, USX Voyager, and grabbed the trailer. There are a few empties there as well, I let dispatch know that they are there and scattered all over the yard. Then a quick run back to Peyton in Fountain, CO. This time, SIX hours in the dock (I got $50 for it this time) because the sealed box was off on count. Even though we aren't really sure who counted wrong, the shipper or the receiver. The numbers do not add up. But that is not my problem. The lumpers left the trailer a mess with all kinds of dunnage inside. I had to clean that out before my next pickup after my break.

I am still in a bit of a crappy mood but I hit my 34-hour break. I set back down in Pueblo in the Love's, even though all the spaces are on a slant facing one way or another. I was able to get the truck cleaned and even rearranged and got caught up on e-mail. So that is something. I could not get any traction in school, a lot more reading to go, but I got that mostly out of the way and I am ready to do my responses. Now I just need the time to do them. I got a pizza from Godfather's and ate about a third of it, two more meals sitting. Oh, and I moved the fridge to the top bunk, that gives me a lot more room down below and the abilit to use my TV when I have ROKU access. Pretty cool. I just have to find a better up top storage method. Added plastic drawers to my search list. Fun times.

I finished my 34-hour break and rolled right on time toward Texas to pick up some dog food. I was running a bit ahead, so I took a break in a road-side stop and tried to get the prarie dog pics off of my camera. They just did not come out. Blurry and out of focus. But what are you gonna do?
I got into the shipper just ahead of time and did not have to wait for long. It did not take them that long to get me loaded and I was on my way across I40 in no time. I actually made it out of Texas and into Erick OK, before I shut down for the day. I did the ZOOM meeting with the ROGER development team, ate some mini pizzas and headed off to bed with the engine on idle as the temperature topped out at 122F. It did not get below 100 until after 900pm when the engine finally shut down. I did not get as much sleep as I would have liked, but up and in motion and on down the road. GA is calling and away we go...

I rolled hard out of Oklahoma and was shooting for the Olive Branch Terminal. I know that the I-40 bridge between West Memphis AR and Memphis TN is closed, so all traffic has to use the I-55 bridge. I brought it up on Google Maps and it was showing a three hour delay. I would have run out of time right in the middle of the mess, so I shut down in Palestine AR. Big mistake. The Love’s there is under heavy construction and even though I was able to get a place to park early in the afternoon, getting out was a bit of a bear. There were no showers available and only limited food. Luckily, I still have noodles and hot dogs – so I did not starve. I can’t wait to get home and restock.

I rolled hard after waking up just a bit late. I was about 45 minutes behind schedule because I overslept a bit. But I made it to Tractor Supply within five minutes of my appointment. They were not even ready for me. But by the time I got into the easy dock, they were ready to roll. A very fast unload and I was down the road to Kellogs about an hour away. That was not nearly as fun or easy. There was construction in the parking lot, and the yard mule was parking most of the trailers because the drivers could not get into the holes. I made it in with no problem, but it was tight. I hooked up to the trailer, a bit heavy but legal, and fought my way out of the lot. It was rough. Now I am headed to Atlanta. Fun times.

I don’t know what the next days are going to bring, but I am really hoping that they will be productive. My biggest fear is that I will be pushed in a direction that I do not want to go, or this is a publicity stunt to say WE CARE, but nothing will come of it. I am going to make it a point to discuss Keely and her issues with some of those in power and see what happens.

Today was annoying as hell. I busted my ass to make it to the Kellogs drop site in Atlanta and rolled in right on time after rolling hard. But you know what? The appointment was supposed to be 400pm, not 400am. They would not take it early, so I headed over to the Ellenwood terminal for ten hours. I got to talk to quite a few people and got no rest. Then I headed back to Kellogs and got the drop down fast. Jamie discovered that they messed up my reservations and I am not due at the hotel until tomorrow. I told her “no problem” and was going to sleep in the truck, but she texted me and fixed it, so I headed to the hotel.

What an evening

I finally got to meet Miranda and a lot of the gang. I did not really eat today and neither did a lot of the others. So Caron and Justin went on food and booze run. Chinese food and multiple bottles of alcohol. Party time – all sarcasm intended. We hung out in Jo-Jons room until around 100am and talked about multiple things, mostly about tomorrow. I had some New Amsterdam Mango Vodka. Not bad, but I am a lightweight now since I don’t drink a lot. It made my head fuzzy. Then it was off to sleep.

This was one interesting day. It all started with Coffee at the coffee shop next to the hotel. People looked quite the worse for wear. But everyone was in good spirits. We did a quick meet and greet breakfast and then headed into the meeting. The biggest problem with it was that it was a four hour series of we were here, we are here now, we want to be here in the future type of thing, but they did not plan in any breaks. It made people a bit antsy, but we got through it. Donald did the introductions, Cameron talked about the past, present, and future, Angie talked about the future of Operations strategies, Brad discussed the optimizer, Josephine addressed product management, Ben did Freight acquisitions (this was kind of out of place for the purpose of the meetings), and then Ariel discussed the Ambassador program with Babs backing her up. All in all, they were highly informative, but most of it I knew about. Once that was complete, it was a lunch of pizza and then offices and one-on-one discussions with everyone under the sun. By the end of the day, I think a lot was accomplished. Everyone went to either the Melting Pot for dinner, or to Dave and Busters. I went back to the hotel with an overpriced fish sandwich (it was delicious) and worked on school until I was ready to pass out.

I am really missing home right now, and I am very tired. I spent a lot of time on my feet today and it made the muscle issues quite a bit worse. But I got a long, hot shower and then settled in to get a good night sleep.

Back at it and ready to roll. But that was not to happen. I did not get 50 miles out of Atlanta headed toward Shaw flooring for a pickup when my radar failed. I called breakdown and spoke to Operations. They advised me to pick up the load, that was in failure already anyway, and take it to Tunnel Hill and put the truck in for service. Not the best way to restart my run after the Atlanta experience. But no my friends, it was not a hugs and puppies situation. I was unimpressed with the "inspection lane". The tech just wandered around the truck and told me to move on. I am pretty sure it was not the regular guy, just someone filling in. Anyway, I put the truck in for service, and it was a bracket. But it took all day to fix. I did get to try food from Geno's truck - that was not terrible, and I talked to a very intelligent driver with some interesting ideas about time and space. Funny who you may meet on the road. His name was Rand, and we held a long conversation about life, the universe and everything. I finally got the truck back and set my sights on tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a better day.

The wheels of time and space are slipping. Today was supposed to be a better day, but that did not happen. I was sent on a Wild Goose chase for a trailer 191 miles away in Alabama at Home Depot. The trailer was supposed to be empty, I had it reserved and a reference name that said it was empty. When I got there, the guard told me it was loaded and even let me onto the yard to physically check it. Then Roger started acting up. It took me four hours to get a response from Operations. But that was a tech glitch. I finally talked to Emic and he got the ball back in motion. I managed to pick up a trailer and rushed my tiny butt to the shipper. Sadly, it is Friday and shipping leaves at 300pm. I got there at 500. OYE. They were gone until Monday. Defeated, I reported the issue and scampered off to set down for the night, tomorrow is another day. But I am not too upset about it, if history repeats, at least I should get paid for the empty miles. So it is not a total loss.

I had to laugh. I received another dispatch from the Walmart transfer station near Atlanta. Does that sound familar? Of course it does, it is 3 miles away from where I was parked for two days while I was at the Atlanta conference. I came full circle. The great thing is that the pickup went like clockwork. I dropped the empty, hooked to the loaded and was on my way North to Upstate New York. Not my favorite place, but I am in motion again. The drive was pretty good except for one accident near shutdown time. Luckily, I saw it coming and was able to re-route around a closed highway with only a loss of about 30 minutes. Those that got stuck in it were there for hours. Yeah me! I made it all the way into North Carolina, running a bit ahead, just the way that I like it.

I am tired as hell, but I made it from North Carolina to Pennyslvania. I had to fight for parking, but found a spot in a nasty Pilot and accomplished something. I got my final done for my course. I only got a high C on it, but it still gives me an A for the course, so I will take it. On a lighter side of thing, I talked to one of the new drivers that I am mentoring. He is an old-dog trucker that is very set in his ways. I am curious to see how well he does. He ran for years without logs, and is having a bit of a problem adjusting. Time will tell what will happen. From what he says, he live up in the mountains with no car, no running water and no electricity. He is not happy about the personal use aspects of the company. When he is off, he wants the truck to be his private vehicle without restrictions. I explained DOT regulations, but his old employer.....yeah, you get it. It will be an adventure. I have spoken to one of the others, and right now, he is waiting for Wife authorization, to have a rider. What a way to start out. But I am sure he will get rolling soon.

Hard rolling today. I got dropped, picked up a trailer that needs inspection and headed over to Proctor and Gamble in Tunkhannock PA. Love that site, all the way up in the mountains away from everything, sadly, including truck stops. I had two and a half hours when I left there and wound up stopping in Ravine PA at an Exxon. Nasty little place. The area has zero signal of any kind. I could not even make or take phone calls. Talk about backwoods. But my mood is improving a bit. I was able to get some decent sleep and actually ate Burger King for dinner. I really really wonder why the hell I do that. I know it is going to be bad for me, but I do it anyway. Sigh, the joys of being me.
I am headed back to North Carolina and should arrive with about 14 hours left on my 70. Things are about to get interesting. I am due home this weekend, have no recaps available and I am going to be running short on time soon. Today, I will set down in Newton NC at the Love's and get my two postings done, then all that remains for class is the paper. I may get that started, depending on what they have for me next. We shall see. Ahhh the final week before hometime.

This was just one of those days that does its' best to get on your nerves. It is kind of like waking up with a Britney Spears song in my ear as an earworm and not being able to shake it. I rolled into Target in North Carolina with two hours to spare. But then it got really annoying. I waited for hours for a resolution only to get one for midnight after no sleep. Then I got to the shipper and they were not a 24 hour operation and had closed two hours before I got there. But that is okay, I set down on the street outside the shipper and took a 10 hour break, so I managed some sleep after all.

I headed into Ohio. Time is fleeting and I don't have enough time to make it back to Olive Branch without a reset, so I set down in the Springfield OH. Terminal. That was both a good thing and a bad thing. While I was waiting and relaxing, my Dclimate failed. I talked to the shop, and it would probably be Monday until they got the parts. That would be two days after I am supposed to be home. So I talked to Sandeep of DClimate and he shipped the parts to Olive Branch. I will put the truck in for service after I drop off. All things come together in time.

The time in Springfield was not wasted. I got to talk to a lot of drivers. One of the points of the talk was the "recruits" that are coming in. I am mentoring five people right now, and I question what the ambassadors are doing. I understand that there is a learning curve, but some of the questions are a bit disturbing. We shall see how things work out. I heard from Keely and it looks like they are going to move her to a drop and hook account, or an account with docks. That will be good for her.

I am back on the road and headed home. Tomorrow I will be picking up the home load, and I will go from there. I am tired and ready to be home for a while. I am still not feeling great.

I picked up at Cummings in Indiana, which was a bit of an adventure. There are two sites next to one another, so of course, I wasted almost 90 minutes by going to the wrong one. One of my other V drivers got stuck turning around which killed another 30 minutes. That was kind of rough, but it did make it so that I could not make it all the way home. That is okay, with the delay, I had to take another 10 hour break before pulling into Olive Branch. It does not put me behind, but it does not make me early either. I am very much looking forward to home.

I did not realize exactly how stressed and worn out I was. The past seven weeks has been really rough. I spent most of the day prepping for returning to work and doing the yard. I think that I am ready to hit the road again, but not until I get some well deserved break in placve. I got to spend the day with the wife, which is always a good thing. I am waiting for final grades from school, but I did update my Variant photo with my graduation gear. Another chapter closes.

I am not ready to go back to work. But watching the feeds, I am really glad that I am not there today. The phone lines have more than a 30 minute hold time, and Freshchat is running hours. There is a computer problem and it is causing a bottleneck. Of course, everyone is complaining about it. I did a bit more yardwork, specfically the corner in the back yard, and I watched one of my sitcoms, 2 broke girls. It is funny. I did get some more relaxing in, so that is good. Laura made meatballs for dinner, and they were very yummy. I requested that next time she make a batch, she freeze some of them for truck food.

I am STILL not ready to go back to work. There, I have said it twice. But that is okay, I will psych myself up by tomorrow morning and be ready to roll, I hope. I had a major headache toward the end of the day, but it probably has something to do with water intake. To top it off, I started to get a sore neck. OUCH. But all in all, a good day. No grades for the class yet, and back to the running tomorrow. No pre-assignment before I went to bed, but we will see what the morning brings.

The coming month

July is almost here, or as you read this, probably here. You can find the new link at July 2021 and I actually checked it this time to make sure that it pointed to the proper year. Thank you to Laura for pointing out my mistake last month. In July, I am going to try to go back to posting daily, and I am going to include "What I see" each day, a picture out of the front windshield, as well as, with any luck, a few more creative works. Look for it.

The Details - of course

It appears that anytime that I return from my home-time, it is rough to make it out of Olive Branch and the Memphis area. This time is no exception. I hit the yard two hours early, with wide eyes and a song in my soul, ready to run hard for the day and then enjoy a nice homemade Laura meal. But alas, that was not going to happen. I took two hours to set up the truck, and then let operations know that I was ready to roll, right on time. First one hour passed, and then two passed. And then I got that nice LONG run that I was hoping for. A full 18 miles from Olive Branch MS to Memphis TN. This was not unexpected, because I was BOBtail and did not have a trailer, and a last-mile run is an easy way to get one. So I knuckled down, found the trailer, did my pretrip, which took longer than the run, and headed over to General Motors. I got dropped, swapped and had a new trailer, all ready to go. Then I sat in Pilot until after 430pm. Sigh. Logistics is weird right now, feast or famine. As night approached, I communicated with operations and told them that I did not want to be stuck on Lamar in Memphis, in hooker hell. I could head back to Olive Branch if it was going to be a run for tomorrow. But they jumped all over it. They got me a run. 588 miles empty to pick up in Maryland to delivery in North Carolina, 400 miles away. HUH??? Obviously this was a saving throw to get me a load. Nah, I am not like that. I let Katlin know NO WORRIES and to pass that along to someone already at the Tractor Supply. I mean, I appreciate the effort, but that is just silly, and a waste of company money. Before I lay down, I got a dispatch for first thing in the morning in Jackson TN. A run I actually like. Black and Decker to Home Depot in West Columbia SC. That I can do. There is a bit of a timing thing, but I am sure they will straighten it out before I hit Jackson in the morning.

The Physical State

I have not been feeling too well today. But it is my tummy I think. A good nights sleep and I should be fine. I was running a low grade fever, at least for me. About 98 degrees, which is about 1 degree high for what I usually do. I did have a headache, but I am sure that was caused by my sugar levels being a tiny bit high, and my blood pressure bouncing between way low and a tad bit high. Before I went to sleep, all things had leveled off, so all good. I did have noodles and hot dogs for dinner. Tomorrow, I will pull rice and one of the Laura meals, that should help a bit.

The Mental State

I was not looking forward to getting back on the road this tour. That is something unusual for me. Usually, I am well-planned and ready to roll by the time it is time to roll. But not this time. I was listless and not ready to go. It may be the ending of school, and a lack of prosepcts for projects. Time to kick the old creative mind and see what I can find. Maybe some sax and some writing before I swing back into the next session in Criminal Justice. Time will tell.

The Keely thing

True to their word, Donald and Cameron kicked the tires and lit the fires and Keely will be moved off the Dollar General Account. I am a bit jealous. She is moving to the new CH Robinson account. From what I have heard, that is mostly drop and hook, and a killer account for miles and pay. I think that she will do well. And then in November, I will get her over to Variant. But honestly, she may decide to stay there if that account is as good as they say. Assuming we can believe THEY.