Quote: "We made them, the human race..."
Short Story Collection: Story - "The Invasion"
By Christopher Klein

Not too exciting

There are times that I sit and think, and times that I just sit. Today is one of the latter. I took the past couple of days, the end of September off from everything, including the blog. I am sure that you noticed if you follow this regularly. And today, I did some cooking, some cleaning, and a whole lot of sitting around doing nothing. It was good to do nothing for a change, and I vow that I will not regret it. I did download my entertainment for the truck though. I have about 12 movies and 10 series, and that should last me for about a year, possibly the 18 months if things go well, considering that I will be back in school by the end of the month and studying constitutional law. So I am set up until the end of this current journey. I have enough PDF books and audio books to last about the same amount of time. So by the time that I finish all that stuff, it should be Colorado time!

Quote: "S.A. Tan, Sylverster Albert Tan, at your service."
Short Story Collection: Story - "The Shop"
By Christopher Klein

A day of cooking

Still at home, and I dedicated the entire day to cooking for the next six weeks, and setting up the laptops for my time on the road. Many people don't realize the work that I put in to minimizing the time and money that I have to use while I am on the road. Today, I made sure that I have enough food to last for my entire tour. If things go right, and there are no problems, I should only have to "eat out" less than five times. That means five 34 hour breaks in six weeks. That is doable, depending on how well the optimizer operates.

Drama!

There has been a bit of drama on the facebook front. Some of it on the work forums, and some of it on the personal front. First, people are starting to question the potential favoritism given to some drivers. And where I will not argue the facts of the case, because they are there, it is not my place to judge this alleged action. I do not have all the facts, and since there may be underlying circumstance, how it looks is the problem. But the personal front is more my speed. People are equating companies that force employees to get the vaccine as a condition of employment, to a manager or owner that demands sexual gratification as a requirement for employment. As of today, I have started to remove these assholes. You cannot make this comparison, and my final response to all of these morons is "Get the damn shot!". And that is all that I have to say on the subject.

The creative edge

I am starting back to school by the end of the month. So I am making sure that I create a round-robin that will allow for school, writing, saxophone, art, the websites, and a few other pet projects. Once I get on the road and into the groove, time should fly, and that is what I am hoping for, for the next two years. I am hoping that we are in the endgame of this chapter, meaning Memphis, and then, on to Colorado.

Quote: "I didn't know you were a lesbian! Okay, I could not say that with a straight face."
Novel: - "The Awakening"
By Christopher Klein

A final day home

I finished up the cooking today, and I should have enough meals, with the sides, to last about five and a half weeks. That should be perfect, as long as Operations does not mess with me for the next hometime. Time will tell. I also finished up moving the entertainment and all. I chose to download about 24 seasons of Southpark for my cartoons. I have never watched the entire series, now I will.

Oye vey!

I got a message from operations, and then a call that I missed while I was doing other things. Apparently, I was due back at 0700 this morning. I never checked when I logged out and just assumed that it was set correctly. I always do about six weeks out and then threee days home. This time, they set me for two days, and no one noticed. But I talked to Logan and all is good, I am set up for 0700 tomorrow morning, as it should be.

Quote: "Just let it go girl. Let it go!"
Short Story Collection: Story - "The End"
By Christopher Klein

Back at it

I started out early and managed to get most of the truck set up before I received my order. Then it was a long bobtail into Kentucky to pick up a preloaded trailer. But it turned into a rough run. I was able to get picked up without problems, however, the load was due today. It was a load of damaged pallets for CHEP. I rolled as hard as I could and managed to get to the reciever, get unloaded, and then pull into teh Springfield terminal with just under five minutes to spare. I was exhausted, but felt pretty good about the day. I set down and made my Asian Sesame Pork for dinner. It was excellent. I was a bit pissed that I forgot to put it in my oven lunchbox, but it came out pretty well in the microwave. I watched half of a True Blood episode and then fell asleep.

Quote: "He is not afraid of anything..."
Short Story Collection: Story - "House of Secrets"
By Christopher Klein

Waking to Fog

The above photo was taken after sunrise in the Springfield terminal. There is no filter, that is exactly what I saw. It was eerie and lasted for about 30 miles before turning into a nice, but rainy day. But it was all good. A quick pickup and then a hard run into Illinois to the Walmart DC. I actually made pretty good time until the last 20 minutes, which took more than an hour because someone flipped their car a few times and obliterated it onto a bridge support on I-80. I can't believe that the driver survived.

The end of times

Nah, nothing that serious. I got dropped at Walmart and got a bit of love from a stink-kitty (skunk), but nothing horrible. It was just looking for attention and the jake brake on a truck scared it. Luckily, it was facing the other driection and I just got a little spray from the wind. Nothing that a shower and a wash of my pant legs couldn't fix. I hit Oglesvy IL and shut down at the Love's there, and managed to get shower and take care of the pants. All good. A slow meal of beef stew over rice, with some buttered bread, and the end of a decent day. Sadly, I had to bobtail out of Spring Valley, so who knows what tomorrow will hold. But that is a problem for another day.

Quote: "Come my dear, there are matters to attend to..."
Novel: Awakening
By Christopher Klein

A false start

I did not sleep well, and woke up about an hour after I intended. I received orders to head over to XPO Logistics and pick up an empty trailer. Sadly, that trailer was still in a dock and will be unloaded, according to the yard jockey, "when they get around to it". Not the most helpful people, but I popped over to the Love's in Utica and waited. After two hours, I asked for a status, and was told to head over to Spring Valley, to the Walmart DC, to pick up an empty. The trailer that I dropped yesterday. Sigh. I let Kaitlin know that I dropped that one, and checked the only other one that we have at that site, and both were loaded, and probably would not be available until October 7, tomorrow. Oye. But I am taking it in stride. I was able to use the extra time to catch up on email, the blog and a few other things. I finally got an empty from the Kohl's DC just a few miles down the road, but that was just the beginning of the adventure.

Breakdown time

I was already five hours late for the pickup due to the trailer chase, but when I was about 20 miles from the shipper, I started hearing a hissing sound. I checked the radio, DriverTech and the CB, and then I realized it was coming from my brake pushes. I pulled over and did an intertrip inspection. Sure enough, a retention spring on the trailer gave way, and the air hoses for the rear tandums were dragging on the ground - wearing through apparently. I put in a call to breakdown and it took about 2 hours to get a response from a repair truck. Granted, once, "River Roads" mobile repair got there, he had it fixed in about 10 minutes, but the way, oh the wait.

Finally there

I made it to COTT beverages, and talked them into loading me instead of making me come back tomorrow. So there is that. They put me, at first, in the wrong dock, so I had to move after being there for over an hour. All-in-all it took a bit over two hours to get me loaded it. At that point I was exhausted. I headed toward Joliet IL, but I will not make it tonight. I had a total of 10 non-paid working hours today and I am just done. That is about a shift of work, 500 miles, and about $250 in lost wages, because of some things that could be avoided, and others that are par-for-the-course. It is frustrating. One of the most frustrating things was sitting there for six hours waiting for an empty location and then watching a 3rd party roll on by with one of our trailers attached. I do not feel that any loads should be given to third parties as long as any driver, for Variant or USXI, is sitting looking for a trailer. But that is only my opinion.

The end cometh

I finally got shut down in a rest area just outside of my fuel stop in Hamel IL. I did not want to chance the Love's, I had my red beans and rice for dinner, and simply went to sleep. It was a long day.

Quote: "Close the Veil! We are not meant for this world ... yet"
Novel: Awakening
By Christopher Klein

Still puddle jumping

This is a true hell day. I did a four-hour drive into Dollar General and made it right on time. This was supposed to be a drop and hook, but, even though they had about 50 empty trailers available and sitting on the lot, they could not release one, because they were all scheduled to be loaded. Instead of going on the great trailer chase, I convinced them to live-unload me so I could retain my trailer, so that worked out.

Then things go bad

This is where things spiraled into the seventh-level of hell. I was dispatched into the Walmart CP 1700 in Hammond. This is one tightly run dock with hundreds of trailers moving through there a day. The problem is logistical. I gave my pickup number and trailer number to the traffic desk after I dropped my empty, but they told me that the trailer had been checked out at 800 this morning. We went back and forth on this issue for nearly four hours, with no resolution. The problem is that once a trailer is dropped empty, you cannot take it back out. after some verbal jousting, I talked them into letting me recover my empty and I headed back out. I setdown in a rest area, because of the time of day, and as soon as I did, I noticed that my power inverter was not working. Sigh

The good with the bad

The bad is that the inverter was toast. The good is that I was near the Markem terminal and rolled in there before I was completely down for my reset. The shop was able to get me in and replace the inverter in a few hours. Tomorrow is another day.

Quote: "But this is wrong, so wrong..." (quoting Lilith to Osparia)
Novel: The Awakening
By Christopher Klein

One thing after another

Back to Hammond, but I knew the proceedure this time. I dropped the empty and searched the yard, sure enough, the trailer that I was supposed to pick up yesterday was there. Isn't that special? This is what happens when recordkeeping goes wrong. The trailer had no seal. I had to get that resolved. I had to verify the load because it has a minor amount of HazMat on it, but not enough to require and endorsement. And then there was getting out of Hammond. To get onto 80 East, well, you can't. There are several detours, that lead to other detours, that lead to closed roads. I finally jumped on Westbound and went a few miles out of the way to turn around. And then my ABS light came on on the trailer.

Annoyance

It just went from bad to worse. I got about 60 miles out and set down at Love's where I waited for seven hour to get pulled into a bay. The techs were nice, and they were good, but they did not have the tools required to fix the bearings on the trailer. So this is yet another wasted day. It is getting old. I spoke to Breakdown and they advised to wait until morning where Love's will attempt to purchase the tool. If that is not possible, I will have to slow-roll to Indy to get Russel trailer repair to fix it on our site. The preference is to have it fixed in Demotte IN at Love's so that I don't have to roll with a busted truck. I ate some hot dogs and went to bed - done with this day.

The worst thing

Laura reminded me that today is our anniversary. I forgot because I did not open my calender before she brought it to my attention. Pfft. Bad husband!

Quote: "The Jazzman Played a Happy Tune"
Poem: Jazzman (avilable in Ancient Steel Flames on Amazon)
By Christopher Klein

A bad start

I got up and did the morning thing including breakfast, and grabbed a shower. Ryan called me from Love's and the Tool is not avialable locally, it would have to be ordered with a 3-5 day lead time. I popped this information over to ops and waited for instructions. But there is something going on right now with the company, and I am not sure what it is. In the past few days, I have been in quite a few terminals, and I have talked to people. They are leaving Variant (and USXI and TOTAL) like rats from a sinking ship. The reasons that they are giving me are those that are just rehashing old information. Short runs, favoritism, long reponse or no response from operations, etc. I am seeing this as well. It is a dangerous business situation for those involved. We continue to hire by droves, and we are offering bonuses for those that run 2400+ miles a week, but the optimizer is not giving out those miles, because of long docks, long waits and all. It is a catch-22.

The Resolution

The answer to the resolution is that there is not one. I talked to Jeremy while I was heading down to Indy, and he told me that they would send me over to Speedco to get the bearings repaired. But I had him call them back to make sure that they had the tool, a 5 inch bearing socket. Of course they do not. This is a specialized tool that is only available by special order. We do not have a lot of these trailers. and I can understand why. So I set down in Indy, let Operations know that I was sitting here waiting for further order, and nothing was returned. So I spent another day down. Right now, I am at 600 miles for the week and whatever bone they are going to toss me for the problems. I am not going to let it get to me. But it is time to do some serious thinking. The infighting against the machine is getting to me, and it is time that I let it roll off my back and truth the gods to bring things together. And that is how I am going to handle it for now.

The new list

Since I came off home-time, I have gone little in miles, but did not really have a lot of time available. I have worked 50+ hours, and really have nothing to show for it. But I finally got my new round-robin together. I had to make some changes with school starting in about two weeks. So the lists are like this:
The morning list:
Personal care (includes exercise)
E-mail
Blog
Yoga
School

Round Robin
Complete the herbology database on Ancient
Flesh out and complete "the Awakening"
Complete the Ghost and Haunting database on Ancient
Continue with the short story collection.
Continue with the rebuild of the main Ancient Pathway site
Complete the novel "Fixing America and Building a Better world".
Work out a plan for the extra education such as Zenva et al.
Digitize the mileage logs for the past two months.
Clean the truck
Saxophone
Art
All of the round robin will be worked in turn with specific goals. Now, I am anal retentive.

Quote: "The problem is not the politics, it is the politicians."
Novel: Fixing America and Building a Better World
By Christopher Klein

Still in Indianapolis

I got up before the sun and did the morning thing before I sent a message over to operations, reminding them of my status. The day pushed onward with no communications all day. It was not until evening, when I communicated with Lori through facebook, that anything got done. She was off today, but took it on herself to contact Ops and put the ball into motion. There will be a resolution first thing in the morning, and she got Mosis from Ops to call me and talk to me about the entire situation

Not a wasted day

The situation has me a bit blue, but I used my daily mantra and muscled through. And I read an entire book, 300 pages, on Constitutional law, from beginning to end. Pretty interesting. I can't wait to start this course. I worked through my round robin and made some headway on everything, so there is that. I watched "Casper" while I was working on some other things, and then headed off to sleep.

Quote: "Lilith gets to live forever and I get to die?"
Eve speaking to Adam when she realizes the response from an angry God
Novel: Awakening
By Christopher Klein

The resolution begins

The ball was in motion with the rising of the sun. I walked into the shop and they were already discussing the problem with the trailer. They were going to come out, thinking I was still sleeping, and work on it on the lot. But I dropped the trailer and they pulled it right in. Their thinking was that the shop at Love's (and Petro, TA, etc.) was either lazy or did not know how to properly fix the hub. Time will tell.

Time did tell

They got me into the bay first thing in the morning, and had me back out within three hours. I am not happy with the answer, but they say it is safe, so I rolled with it. They appear to not have to worry about the hub tool because they just repacked the bearings. But I was not watching the entire time. I can still feel it moving wrong. Granted, that is a short term answer with wobbly bearings, but it is not a permanent fix. I got on the road, and rolled 8 hours into Midway Tennessee. It was supposed to be a live unload, but due to the lateness, it turned into a drop. I hit Love's in Bulls Gap, bobtail, and went to sleep. I have a bit of a cold. And it is getting on my nerves.

Quote: "Evelyn approached him, her head hung low, watching her feet as she walked. She had heard he was amazing, but just to be in his presence filled her with both excitement and dread. "
Novel: The First
By Christopher Klein

The Cold is King

I was able to get an empty as soon as I dropped, and set down at the Pilot. This was a wasted day, I had some serious sniffles, so I shut down and went to sleep. I don't know how long I slept, but I had time, so no worries. A very boring day.

Quote: "When a family makes a move to a small town, Parents, daughter and a son that has “no fear” due to a rare condition called Urbach–Wiethe Disease"
Novel: House of Secrets
By Christopher Klein

Driving Hard

It was a mad rush toward Home Depot in Houston TX. I ran as soon as my timer was up, and was almost a bit late because I overslept. I am still not on top of this cold.

Disappointment

Since I got hit with this cold, I have had little time to do anything at all. As soon as I pull the break, it is time to sleep, and time just flies by. It is annoying.

I started out on the last seven hours of Texas backroads, and as soon as I did, the pre-assignments started. Mostly, it is going back and forth between Georgia, and Pennyslvania. Who knows what the final will be. But it might be good.

Slim updates

The recent updates have been kinda thin, mostly because it has been drive - sleep - repeat. If things don't improve my the end of tomorrow, I may have to medicate, asssuming I can find some non-drowsy stuff that does not cost my firstborn. Joy.

Quote: "They promise to give us the cures to every disease, resolve war, famine and all other ailments of mankind. But what is the price"
Novel: The Price
By Christopher Klein

Attack of the Grumy

I am still fighting this cold. I kinda freaked out this morning because I lost taste and smell, and thought I was riding the Covid-19 train, but after a few good sneezes, those senses came back. That was a good thing. I made it in to Home Depot, and even got an empty even though they are not giving them out for U.S. Express. Damn I am good. Too bad my new load is out of the same site. But it was not ready yet, and to top it off, it is a 300 mile puddle hopper store delivery. I talked to Kaitlyn about that, and she tried to flip me back over to the PA run, but the optimizer just tossed me back on the Home Depot delivery. Cest la vie.

Time to medicate

I managed to find a Love's with 250 parking spaces, inside the city of Houston. Amazing. I set down there and went to sleep. I am still stuffy as hell, so I picked up some dayquil before I headed out for the day. I am very glad I am not trying to do day driving, I don't think that I would like to fight the sun with runny nose and eyes.

Quote: "The structure is made of a substance that can not be readily identified."
Novel: The Pyramid
By Christopher Klein

Cat food time

Only a short entry today I am afraid. The morning started out pretty well with a bit of a surprise. I continued over to Home Depot and was running about four hours ahead, so I set down and took a nap, then headed in. It was not a lengthly offload, it was a drop and hook at a Home Depot Store. Granted, the trailer was poorly loaded, and stuff wanted to fall out when I opened the door, but since I was ready for that, no worries. I got swapped and headed north, headed to pick up some pet food at Diamond in Durmas. That is going over to Macon, GA. I did not have enough time to make it into the shipper, so I set down about two hours out. It will make tomorrow a bit of a bear, but you take what you can get sometimes.

Countdown to break

I am about 20 hours from my required DOT break. I have to start figuring out what I am going to do during that time. There is a good chance that I will be in Georgia, so with a bit of luck, right at the end of this pay period, I will be in Tunnel Hill. That will give me a chance to get my swag bag, and maybe stop in to see Operations. I am hoping to get a sit down, or at least call, with Blake, to discuss some of the problems that are going on from an Ambassador point of view. We shall see what will happen. I am a bit taken aback by some of the things that my new mentees have been telling me that they have been told. Thanks to Laura, I do not lie, and it appears that we are making promises based on best case scenarios. And that does not happen. For instance, one of our "top drivers" posted their September timeline, and it showed multiple bi-coastal runs and a massive amount of miles. I posed mine, it it was not nearly impressive as theis. So what are we doing differently? Inquiring minds want to know. Time will tell.

Quote: "When a person fills out a job application, it is now commonplace to replace the title of “Janitor” with “Sanitation Engineer” or “Truck Driver” with “Logistics Transportation Specialist”"
Article: The Rise of the Charlatan
By Christopher Klein

Roll baby roll

I am running short on time. I am pushing that 70 hour barrier. I popped out of break right on time and rolled into Georgia. I hit Tractor supply and even got an empty without any issues. There was a slight hiccup when I did not immediately get my next run. I had been waiting all day for that to get cancelled and replaced with something horrible. But that did not happen. A quick message to operations and I was dispatched to California. Joy. Of course, when I got that, I was down to under four hours. The pickup was an hour North of Macon in Locust Grove, and that is the Atlanta area, at midnight. Yeah, parking could have been an issue - especially when I am out of 70, with no recap at midnight.

A bump in the road

The bump in the road tried to toss everything out of whack. I got to Home Depot, prepped teh trailer to drop, and the guard told me that my order was not ready yet. Of course, since it was almost midnight, there was no one in the office. I would have to head out to Ellenwood and come back in the morning, 10 hours later. But before I was able to reset the trailer and get turned around, he found the order. Apparently, it had the wrong order number, but everything else checked out. So hooked and down the road. Did out hero find parking near Atlanta? What will be next for our brave trucker? Only time will tell.

Quote: "If you are standing in a bookstore reading this preface, and you are a member of the ultra-conservative or religious right, just put it back. This book is not for you."
Novel: Fixing America and Building a better world
By Christopher Klein

Headed to the Golden Coast

So the day started with the end of yesterday's run, and the fun of trying to find parking near Atlanta at 300am in the morning. But I used my brain. There is a little tiny Love's in Waco, GA. I checked out the situation, and of course, there was no parking. So I set down on the off ramp and watched trucks going in and out. I counted, and when I saw one more come out than go in, I found a nice spot to park for my break.

The day of rest

I really did not intend to get a 34-hour reset this soon in the week. I figured it would be closer to mid-week, but that is not the way that it worked out. Once I got into the Love's in Waco, GA. I lay down just to rest my head for a few minutes, and when I woke up, it was dawn a few hours later. I may have been a bit tired. But even though I used the day to rest, I got a lot of things done. The most notable was to purchase a $89 photography master course and begin to download it. The wife looked at it first to make sure I was not putting the cart before the horse. I went back and forth on it and finally buckled down and got it.

The educational front

Anyone that follows me regularly, knows that I start back to Arizona Global early next week but gain access to my materials by Friday of this week. I am excited to get back into school for this final leg of my learning journey. Criminal Justice is outside of my wheelhouse, so it is going to be an excellent learning experience. I have worked out my calendar for the addition of the courses. Right now, I have a total of five coures going. Arizona will be the seventh. But that is because of the inclusion of the photographgy. So it will be Criminal Justice, The courses from Ethical Hacking, Zenva, Khan Academy, MIT Open Courseware, the Photography and Hal Leonard Jazz for Saxophone. I have a few others that I toss in now and then, but the primary focus will be Criminal Justice with the others being a round-robin around that. It helps me not to get bored.

Tomorrow...tomorrow..there's always...

Nah, I don't want to be Annie. I am not that cute. But come the morning, it will be time to head for Cali. And I really have to stop calling it that, because I am not some surfer dude or Kati Perry. So I shall move my butt to California and see what is up on the Golden Coast. It should be a decent week. We shall see.

Quote: "If you have all the money in the world, and never spend a dime, you are still poor."
Short Story: The thirteenth witch
By Christopher Klein

Zoom Zoom Zoom

And here we go. I got my 34-hour break, but at a price. Now I am pressed for time to go from Georgia to California. I am not sure if I am going to make it on time or not, but I am going to give it my best. If I do, I will be surprised. Right now, Roger feels that I am going to get into Perris, CA. on Friday afternoon. I am sure it will be more like Friday morning, but we shall see.

And down the road we go

Once I got into motion, the day was uneventful. Even the driving was not too bad, even through the cities. It was like everything just decided to give me a break. I am not complaining.

Quote: "This is wrong, so wrong...I like it."
Novel: The Awakening
By Christopher Klein

What's up with the dreams?

I am used to having weird dreams. Usually in the horror arena. Doing battle with monsters, fighting unseen foes of unimaginable power. Creatures great and small. But as of last night, things took a hard left turn, and I find it disturbing. I can't really remember details, only a feeling of "where the hell did that come from?" These are not ideas that I can use in my stories, because they have gone way too twilight zone for me. And that is saying something.

Cali bound

The day was pretty much without incident. I rolled hard and made it a lot further into Texas than I thought that I would. So there is that. I am going to make it on time as long as I don't get stuck at the inbound weigh station into California. Fingers crossed.

Pictures

I know everyone is waiting for new pictures. I have a few. Woo hoo, but they are on the camera. And I will hopefully be taking more as I cross country. I am also downloading my new photography master's course, and that includes a one-year subscription to some photo sharing site. So I am hopeful that I will be able to get some of the old ones, and a lot of new ones, available for everyone to check out. Sleep time - peace out.

Quote: "There's a light! And I swear, if you break into a song from Rocky Horror, I am going to smack you!"
Novel: The Shack
By Christopher Klein

A boring day

I really love these long runs, but they can be boring. I woke up with less than two minutes before I had to go on duty, and the morning was very rushed. I had more strange dreams, and then did not have time for exercise, meditation, or Yoga. I did not even have time to email the wife, or update the blog. Pfft.

Across the lower states.

Texas to Arizona. A nice run, and uneventful. I rolled seven and a half hours and stopped for a short break in a Rest Area in New Mexico, and took some pictures. I had a brief encounter with a couple of young people. While I was taking pictures of some berries, a young lady asked if I wanted to take her picture. I didn't. But her would be knight of a boyfriend (assumed) asked me if I was talking to his girl. I explained that I was going to take a few dozen pictures of her and then seduce her back to my truck. He gawked at me. He was just looking for a "fight", probably to prove his manhood. We actually laughed. In the end, he apologized and explained that she always gets hit on, so he is a bit aggressive. I just went back to taking my pictures of rocks, plants, and a newt. You will see those soon. I was not going to explain that if she put on some clothing that didn't let her tushy hang out, she would probably attract less attention. People. Oye.

Almost to Cali

I made it into Arizona. I was hoping to make it a bit further, but that is okay. I am 380 miles from my drop with a potential fuel stop in California before I head into Los Angeles. I am going to make the deadline, about five hours early, and 32 hours before expected. So there is that. I have no idea where I am going from there, but once I drop, I will only be about 30 minutes from the Fontana yard. If I don't have a pre-assignment by then, I will head to the terminal and maybe get some laundry done. Then on Friday, I should have access to the new courses, so it is almost time to put the new plan into action. Fun times coming. Oh, and I am about 3/4 finished downloading the offline portion of the photography course. I am looking forward to both.

Quote: "Hello Pretty!"
Short Story: Hello Pretty! (Available, read by Miss Rebecca Love, on the main site)
By Christopher Klein

A good start

The day started out well enough with a hard run into California and drop at Home Depot. Then it went to hell. I hit the dock with about 4 hours left to drive, and of course, Home Depot did not want to give up an empty. And I could not talk them into it. I was only a few miles from the Fontana yard, so I set down there. About two hours after I ran out of time, they gave me an empty location. It was less then half a mile from the yard, so I went to check on it. Nope, not there. That is strike one. I walked back to the yard and watched some series, and went to sleep. Tomorrow is another day.

Quote: "I am dying, and these are my last words."
Short Story: Hello Pretty! (Available, read by Miss Rebecca Love, on the main site)
By Christopher Klein

Into the Breach me hardees!

When last we checked in on our road warrior hero, he has shut down in the Fontana terminal with high hopes for the morning. One failed trailer pickup did not discourage him, because he was sure that the new management system was on the ball and it would be resolved first thing in the morning. Wishful thinking eh? It was noon before I heard anything. Then they sent me under two miles to pick up a trailer that was tracking over 2000 miles away. Oye. So much for the software answer. They got a new location about 45 minutes away, and I headed into Performance Group to find it. If I never have to go into there again, it will be too soon. Horrible yard, and tight tight tight. They had trailers triple stacked, and I needed a yard mule to help me get out. But I got on down the road, so that is good. Then it was a 45 mile drive back to Fontana, where I started, which took almost three hours. I got into the dock at exactly 500pm local, which of course is when they close. I talked them into loading me and I was on down the road.

Whirling Sun

I let operations know what was going on, but they could not identify me because my name came up as "Whirling Sun". There is some weird irony going on here. I actually used to have that name, many many moons ago, in a different life. But only to some obscure, highly stoned, hippy chick, who I am sure is dead by now. Weirdness.

Quote: "We Face Dystopia and no one is paying attention."
Novel: Fixing America and building a better world.
By Christopher Klein

Into New Mexico

I am running my butt off to make it to just North of Dallas TX by tomorrow night. Tt is tight. And to top it off, there are all kinds of Delays going accross I-10. Let's go ahead and add to that the fact that I am fighting my 70 timer, and getting no response from Operations. Oye. Anyway, I made it all the way to Lourdsburg NM. before I shut down. It was actually Green Acres NM, but who could tell the difference in the Desert? I could have gone for another three hours, but that would have dropped me right in El Paso, TX. and I learned a long time ago that is not a place to shut down. Nasty little area.

The mood

Even with the recent problems and all, I am in a decent mood. I am not sure it is going to hold or not, but we shall see. I hate to run this tight on time. I just don't have time to breathe. Tomorrow, once I finish things up, a shift and a half away, I should be able to set down in the new Dallas terminal and do my break. I am hoping it is as nice as they say it is. And I would like to take the time to get the new photos off of the camera and all. Ah time, you wretched creature you.

Quote: "Setting term limits for "Congress is a godo start, but not the goal in the end.
Novel: Fixing America and building a better world.
By Christopher Klein

The 34-Hour break update

Today, I hit my 34-Hour break, but it is not as intended and it is not in any way, relaxing. I am more stresed than a cat facing a bath. But I am trying. There is a lot of negative going on, and I have to try to hunker down and get things into order here before the old grey matter decides to take a holiday.

The Health Front

I faced a cold last week, and luckily, I was able to kick its' butt in a couple of days. But I am not feeling 100% right now. It is manifesting as physical, but I am pretty sure that a bit of it is mental. Since I am aware of it, maybe I can grab it by the horns and take care of it. I am just very tired, kind of a bone weary tired. And the environment is not helping. There is a lot of stress, and I am not the only one feeling it. Oye.

School, glorious school

School is almost back in session. Just two more days, but I already have my materials, I have reviewed the class, and written my introduction. This first class for the new degree appears to be a cake-walk. We know that appearances can be questionable, but for now, I am okay with it. I have access to the book, and I have skimmed it. I will fully read it in the next day or two. I forgot that the class is an introduction to Criminal Investigation, so I am way over-prepared. I have added a few third-party coures, including a photography course, to my studies. And that course rocks.

The Work Front

When I was very young, right around this time of the year, I was handing out candy for Halloween when a group of kiddies came to the door. They were rude little monkeys, with no costumes, and kept saying "we are from England you know..." I thought they were cool. I found out laster that they were actually liars and just using accents they heard on TV. And that is how I feel right now. Variant may be in a cycle of Crash and Burn. We have a lot of talkign heads telling us how wonderful things are, and how the company is rebuilding the face of logistics. A company there to service the driver. But I am just not seeing it. Telephone response times are close to three hours, with 30 or more drivers on hold waiting. Roger and DriverTech responses are twice that, and people are simply not helpful. Oh, they apologize for the wait, but that is not being for the driver. On this current run, a priority run into Dallas with a J.C. Penny load, it took 26 hours to find me a trailer near Los Angeles. The first two they sent me after were not there, and then when they did get me a valid location, it was 40 miles away, during LA rush hour. It took four hours, when they knew that I was running tight on 70. I did my best, got into the dock just after the company closed for the weekend, and managed to talk them into loading me. Points for me. I avoided two major delays, on in the Thousand Palms Pass in California, and one near El Paso, TX. And then I failed. I was running too tight on time, and spoke to Victor who said that they would arrange a repower about 200 miles out. I hit another traffic snag when a big rig hit a bridge and burst into flames on I-20 near mile marker 131. But that did not matter. I made it into Sweeetwater, and six hours later, I still did not have a resolution. So I am down for 34, sitting on a hot load, and running what is going to be 39 hours late. And what has operations said? "we are working on that". I doubt it.

Where are those photos?

I have them my friends, I promise. They are off the camera, but I have limited internet right now and I am working to get them online. I will probably do a mass post of the new ones, because I think that they are sweet. I am also building an HTML5/CSS3 gallery and I have to set up my new "one-year-free" photography site. Time my friends, time.

What is next?

While I am down for the day, I have to eat. I am starving and I don't know why. I do have a steak pulled for today, and I think that is going to be breakfast, just in case operations does something weird. I want to try to get laundry done, and I want to my "lists" in order. It is going to be a long day tomorrow. I finished out the day by watching "The Chronicals of Riddick". and tomorrow will be a concentrate on things day. Ain't life grand?

Quote: "Who should lead and who should follow?"
Collection: Ancient Steel Flames (Available on Amazon).
By Christopher Klein

Bring it Gaia!

In times of trouble, many will turn to God. In the past, some of my more conservative friends have admonished me for my beliefs. This is because, though I do believe in an all powerful force of existence, I do not beleive that it is some white bread bearded old dude siting on a shining throne, worrying about how much sex I am having, and with what gender. I believe, at my core, in the force of Gaia, the great mother. The unshakable force of existence that does not tell me what to do, but gives me the information and experience to make good choices. I have believed this since my youth, and I believe it today. I do not preach it, teach it, or shout it from the mountains. It simply is...to me. But once in a while, I wonder if she, the shining goddess, is as sadistic and demented as the god of the holy bible. Now don't get me wrong, I feel that the bible is an excellent tome, and I highly recommend that everyone, regardless of faith or religion, read it. It has excellent stories and lessons. But come on.. faith is not discarding that which cannot exist, just because some dude 1500 years ago quoted someone from 500 years before. It is a book of education. My opinion. But within the book, is the story of the creator, the godhead, a sadistic, all powerful creature that micromanages our lives through hard lessons, challenges, and torture.

Okay, why the rant?

When I was younger, I would get into a deep blue funk, usually around my birthday, or holidays. I finally was able to break this cycle of, what I deem as depression, but was something much different, mostly thanks to my loving wife and kids. Since then, I have had minor bouts with the creeping grey at the edges, but this is all part of the human condition. It is difficult to be perfect in an imperfect world, surrouded by imperfect human animals. Okay, Okay, relax, I am only kidding with that comment. But sometimes, there is a series of events that make you question the purpose of the universe. Usually, in retrosepct, they are trivial, but while you are in the midst of them, they just piss you off. And that is where I am right now.

Stop the tease dammit!!!

As you can tell, I have been doing creative writing, because I have picked up the habits of some of my favorite authors like King and Koontz. Dragging things out, building the suspense. So here it is. The past 72 hours, since I hit California, have been a series of trials and tribulations. If you have been wandering with me on this journey, you know that Variant has a communication issue, the company is having problems servicing the drivers, namely with providing the required equipment, and people are getting their panties in a bunch. So I hit Cali, and Home Depot would not give up an empty, even though they had one. It took 26 hours for me to find one, and it cost me an extra five work hours and 85 miles before I could hit a shipper and then talk them into loading me after hours. As I am charming and influential, I was able to jump that chasm and get headed toward Dallas. But the wheels of fate (not to mention drivers on the road) can be evil. I faced two serious delays coming across I-10, but managed to avoid them by shutting down outside of my target areas. I was on track to hit the Dallas area JCP yard with about an hour to spare of my 70 hours, until a truck decided it would be a good idea to hit a bridge and burst into flames, thus closing down the roadway. There went my window. So I informed operations that I would miss on time delivery for this critical load. Oh, and I know what is in the boxes....critical ...yeah, I don't think so. But that is not my call to make...

The Saga Continues...

So, I did everything that I could and I failed. I hate to fail. Anyone that knows me, knows that much. But I know when I am beat. But this is where the company becomes a problem. I have communicated the issues at every step of the journey. The final answer is that they are going to send a "repower" to grab the load and take it in. This did not happen. In fact, other than telling me that they are arranging one, I have heard nothing. So, just have midnight tonight, I will be going the final four hours and dropping these critical goods. And thus ends the work saga, so let's get personal.

The reset annoyance

So, work is handled, I have done my due diligence and kept them up to date the entire time, so I set down at Love's in Sweetwater, TX. The first annoyance is internet. For my breaks, I make sure I have internet so that I can do school, emails, blog updates, etc. But that did not happen. There is someone sucking up the bandwidth so that no one else can connect, and they were here the entire time. So no juju for me. Luckily, I have movies and such, as well as many other things to do. However, that creeping grey, or deep blue mentioned above is hanging around, so most of the time I spent staring off into space. I did eat my steak, but that was the high point of the break. I had an encounter with a podcasting conservative that is convinced that he is the big POO and going to save America by putting the Golden one back into office, and getting rid of us liberals. I did manage to piss him off when he approached me, so that is something. But for 34 hours, I have been mostly just sitting. NOT GOOD.

The final blow

A nice double whammy by the universe. When I get into the grey/blue place, my creativity takes a nosedive. So no school for the most part, no drawing, no saxophone, no writing. But I have my camera. Or at least I did. I took a walk into the desert, something that I have done before. I got about 100 yards in when I was approached by a holier than thou border agent that demanded my papers (seriousl...papers???) to prove that I was not a rougue illegal trying to take the jobs or hard working Americans. Luckily, I had my wallet, and that adventure was uneventful. A walk across an open area leads to being questioned about my red-blooded loyalty to the flag. Oye! But then the final blow... Mr. Border agent gone, it is time to take a picture. My trusty old Nikon, purchased decades ago, finally decided to give up the ghost. The reflecx mirror jammed, and no power on Earth is going to unjam it. Sadly, I have known this was a possiblity for ages. It was recalled more than 10 years ago (probably a lot longer) for just this issue. I looked into a replacement for it..and that is not going to happen. Sigh. And here we are.

What's next for our hero?

I am finishing out the break and then headed into Dallas. School officially starts tomorrow, and I am not quite ready, even with my preparations, but I am going to forge onward. I am annoyed, don't feel relaxed, and need to get into motion.

Quote: "Lawmakers don't work for the people, they work for the next election"
Novel: Fixing America and building a better world.
By Christopher Klein

Back on the road.

I logged in right at the end of my 34 break. I was tired, but it was good to be back in motion. I got into the JC Penny drop yard, just on time as I thought that I would. Of course, they did not have any empties. It took about four hours for planning to get me a site and I headed up to Kohls to hook up. I got the location about the same time that I was supposed to be picking up in Mesquite TX. In route, I get a call from planning asking my ETA. They seemed a bit irritated that I was going to be four hours late on the pickup. I held my tongue and did my job.

Decent days

I have had some really cruddy days lately. Today was better. Even with the wait for a trailer. But I got hooked, got into the dock and loaded. My camera broke and I was able to fix it. I talked to the collectors for Baptist and have a payoff arranged. And I even got hot dog buns (finally) at Love's in Van. All in all, a decent day. Then I went to sleep for seven hours and woke up downright hostile. Weird.

Quote: "He started at her toes, and she was forced to watch"
Short Story: Don't eat me.
By Christopher Klein

Out of Texas

The day did not start out well, but I am not going to let it get me down. I hit login at exactly when I could and did my pretrip. All good and ready to roll. I had gotten coffee and tea, and even talked to a driver about joining Variant. He voiced his unhappiness with the company, as he had previously worked for us, and his recruiter (Ambassador) lied to him. He left in a huff. I thanked him for his time and moved on. He continued mumbling as I walked away, about the lies, the low miles, being stuck for days without a load or without a trailer. He was not a happy person. I prepped the truck, then pulled on the scale. I am not a dick, so once I weighed, I grabbed an open spot, navigating past all the sleepers parked all over the place. I got my scale ticket, and all good. Ready to roll. I always check my Kingpin before I move, no problems there, until I noticed the dangler. By dangler, I mean the BRAKE air hose, neatly sliced into two, that was fine when I did pre-trip. Now, how could that happen? I dislike people! I called breakdown, it took about an hour for the repair tech to get here, and he brought the wrong hose. So I sits, and I waits.

The wait is over

The wait took about 3 and a half hours, and the fix was under five minutes. The teach showed up first with the wrong parts and had to go "back to the house". But once he had the parts, all was good and I was down the road. Mostly a mundane day and rolled hard, making it into Alabama. I set down in McCalla and pretty much went right to sleep. Then I had very weird dreams.

The dream

Normally, I won't toss my dreams in here, but this one was obscure. I was not me, because I had long platinum hair in dreadlocks. Emily left me because my ex showed up at my hotel and I cheated with someone that I did not like. There was a lot more to it than that including Emily and the party barge, her father sticking up for me, the ex and her full chest tattoo of an Amarican flag and eagle. The gothic stone manor in California that Emily and I were selling. Just a pile full of "HUH???" The weirdest thing is that I don't reckognize anyone in the dream, even my own reflection. I thought that was impossible.

Quote: "Here kitty Kitty"
Short Story: As yet unnamed.
By Christopher Klein

A rainy day

A rainy day as I pushed onward into Greensboro NC to drop. I made it right on time, in fact, a bit early and had to wait for the dock team to come back off of break. Not a problem. I got unloaded quickly and was headed to take my 10 hour break about 35 miles away, when I got the dispatch to pick up at the Macy Distribution center. It was right on the way, and they have a parking lot that drivers can use. Of course, that is only an idea...

The idea failure

My idea was to hit the distribution center, hook to my trailer, and then set down in the empty lot across the street. Sadly, their policy has changed, and the lot is now full of, well, empties. I did eyeball the site and no, there are not a whole bunch of ours there. Sadly.

On down the road

Into driver mode. With my only save haven within 50 miles snatched away, I went into drive mode. I had a few choices. At 400 in the afternoon, in an area with zero truck parking, it was a bit of a bear. So I chose to head north toward Ohio, my final destination with this load. I did not think that I could make Lambsville, VA, but I was sure as hell going to try. Of course, I did not make it. But at the last moment, I saw a sign for a Flying J. I took the ramp and viola, like a creature rising out of the mist, there it was. I huge parking lot, and some decent food. Not bad considering I stopped with 56 seconds left on my 11 hour timer. Bravo universe, bravo.

A school update

I think that the class is timid. Yesterday was the deadline for the first discussion post, and only myself and Giovanni had anything in there. There are quite a few introductions, but this is the introduction course, and people may be hanging back to see what happens. We shall see.

Prepping the Pretty

Tiny spoiler. I have finished some minor edits to "Hello Pretty" and am hpoing that, with a bit of luck, that it will be read by Christian Holland, aka the Librarian. But that is all up in the air for right now. Too many dreams have crashed down over time. So I will wait and see on this one.

Where are those damn photos you tease?

Okay okay, I am working on them. I have been a bit busy lately. I am trying to work the bugs out of the new gallery code, and then I am going to put all kinds up. I hope. The intention is that I will get them all up in a gallery, and then I will go back to putting ONE in the blog, while linking to the full sized others in the gallery. Smart huh?

Done in Ohio

Okay folks, I hope that you have enjoyed the story snippets, and now you can see what I am working on, or at least a good portion of it. I hope that I have tormented you a bit, especially since we are coming up on the end of October. I dropped in Ohio, then headed over to Diamond, OH and slept for almost 18 hours. I think that I may have been feeling not so well.

A bit frustrating

I did not have a pre-plan when I went to sleep, and did not have one when I woke up during the night either, but tomorrow is another day. Right?

Almost the West Coast now

I got up and after I was fully awake, I sent a message to Operations. I was about 9 hours from a 34 hour reset and then comes the dispatch. I did not even have time to plan because I had to pick up 3 hours away, and they sent me the load with about 3 hours to spare. So run rabbit run. It was not until I set down for the night that I found out that this run to Phoenix, AZ is on a tight timeline that I can't make. But that is okay, I let Scott know, and he told me they were already aware.

Internet Woes

While in Diamond, I was able to get Windows 11 installed on the computer. I may regret that. The computer is running like a slug, and Love's has been having some connection issues. That is making life a bit difficult. But it will come together. I am running hard toward Arizona right now. After tomorrow, I have to prep the new month (November) and I have a bunch of photos that I have to get to. Feast or famine eh? Until Monday, the 1st, the entries will be short. But I will have to set down for a 34 in route, so I should be able to get some stuff done.

I have run hard and far and actually made it a bit further than I anticipated. Tomorrow, I will make it into New Mexico and I will be down for a break. During that break, I will get a new picture for the sidebar, one of the first orders of business. Then I have a whole list of things to do, but you will have to jump to the first to see that.

School

I am not sure how I am feeling about this new course yet. I will do a lot more updates once I am down, hopefully in Santa Rosa tomorrow. Suffice it to say that there is not a lot of interaction in the course yet. But if I remember correctly, it was the same way with the last course. We shall see.

The dreams

I don't know what is up with the dreams right now. Not bad ones, just very weird. And I hav a recurring girlie named Emily. Long dark curly hair, mid-20s, soft spoken. She is a recurring character, but not really an active one. Very weird. Oh well, check out November, and let's see what we shall see.