Foodliner, DBA, Gless Bros, Blue Grass Ia.

I don't push the truck everywhere I go... occaisionally I hit a longer down hill section allowing me to jump aboard and merely pedal with my left foot.

Though I must say, your theory is rather enticing and I will likely conduct an experiment with it this coming spring.

results to be made available in an up-coming edition of "Truck Pedalers Weakly"

 

two years minimum experience and all your endorsements... and I wouldn't rule out chicago all the way... things are always changing ya'know...

 

I went on a short run yesterday... 168 miles.

took 11 1/2 hours for the round trip...... holy-crap !!!

hunched over the steering wheel.... aiming about 10 feet left of the next reflector and hoping for the best... LOL !!!

can you say ICE???

can we all wonder what iowa did with the money instead of buying salt???

I was running maybe 45 on the way home, empty... about a 30mph cross-wind... and the thing kinda buckled in the middle and started heading for the ditch all squirrlyyyeeeeeeeee...

I had my seat belt on of course but don't think I needed it cuz I had a real good bite on the seat cushion if ya'know what I mean...

only saw a couple of rigs in the ditch and maybe 10 4-wheelers...

but holy cow.... thats the worst I've been thru since living in utah.

not blinding snow or anything... just plain old slick. was down running 30mph in some places.

its a good thing we don't run in the ice and snow or I might have been in the dookie eh??? lol

seenya

 

friday I crawled outta bed at 2:30 a.m.

was in the truck and headed for blair around 5 a.m. for a 10a.m. appointment.

rolled in at 9:45 and was told to hit the sleeper we'll call you around 3p.m.

what the heck?????????

whine whine whine... ect...

2:45 p.m. I hear it over the c.b. "garble garble koh to north bay..."

some guy in a brown freightshaker classic goes whizzing past me for my spot.

grrrrrr...... I'm all over it like stains on a truckstop bowl....


I been here since 9 a.m. blah blah (adlib)

"oh yeah, well I been here since 7:00 a.m."

????????????????????????huh?????????????????????

oh... uhmmm.... pardon me....


turns out I also know the cowboy... we both pull out of hydrite for competing companies... and he's my neighbor more or less... lol

no biggy, I'll just sit for another hour....

make that three hours....

got called over at 6 p.m. to put my suit on and pull a sample. btw the cowboy is still there and none to happy...

he's been on site since 7 and in bay since 3 and still isn't pumping...

bad specs...

hand over my sample and guy starts to walk off and then turns around, "oh, this isn't good, you got the same lot as he does"

oh joy....


they are emailing the problem to the supplier and waiting for a response...

????????????hello?????????? its 6p.m. on a friday night and you are emailing???????????

whip out the phone for a quick consult... twist open a cherry coke... and am told, "oops".

got home just north of midnight.

I never ever never ever ever......... have to sit and wait... but then 8 hours?????????? to be sent home.....??????

and... "we're emailing and waiting for a response"?????????????


SOME DAYS, the lack of communication can only be surpassed by the lack of common sense.

MORONS !!!!!!

ok, now I feel better, not whole, just better.

 

there oughtta be a rule involved or inacted... something to the effect of:

two hours free [if] we are out within two hours. Otherwise we get paid from arrival to depart time.

and

yes I know I'm spoiled, why'd ya think I took the job??? LOL

 

It's saturday, I didn't even want to work today...

two runs to cedar rapids...

first run, actually before I left, got told some knucklehead dispatched a trailer to an air unload facility and the trailer didn't have an air compressor... you just need to air this guys load off real quick...

ya' right... freezing rain, winter weather warnings, I'll just run out the old hose and blow this guys load off in 2 minutes.

ya' I know how that sounds... lol

anyways, get there, guy is already, well he is parked in the hole anyways...

no hoses out, just sitting in the cab snoozing.

get him hooked up and start pumping air...

he is b'ing about dispatch and I'm agreeing all the way...

then he burbs up, 45 minutes wasted for me to air him off...

OH HOW I ONLY WISH THAT WERE TRUE !!!!!

His tank seal is leaking, not the big one I have an old spare for, its the little one... we beat, we pound, we beg, and we wrench...

all we get is a slow shhhhhhhhhhhhh of air still leaking.

after an hour we go check the digital gauge in the building... the load is coming off alright... about every ten seconds the level rises 1/100th of an inch.

My terminal manager bob rolls in with a load of aqua...

my terminal manager rolls out with an mt trailer...

after three hours doodlums trailer is mt and I can go unload mine.

call bob and whine...

oh just keep track of your time...

I hate that little catch'all phrase that is supposed to make you feel better about having it broken off in you... lol

finish my load, and my second is cancelled.

6 a.m. to 3 p.m. I have covered 114 miles for the day.

now yes, bob will make this up to me next week or the week after, feeding me a gravy run...

but for today.... dang I should'a stayed in bed... lol


Seems about once a month it'll be your turn in the barrel... and there just isn't much to be done about it.

flash the customer your pearly whites, and know that payday is coming...

and its worth waiting for...

 

This week I ran a load of ammonia over to a customer I haven't been too for several months.

Get all hooked up and start unloading and am just sitting there minding my own bee's wax...

I notice a large group of suits, maybe ten people, wandering the lot.

I can tell from the speed and outline of the herd this is some kind of tour being led by an individual of some importance.

groups tend to take on a funky egg shape or inverted pyramid formation when information is being passed out verus the kindergarten/noah's ark 2x2 march when just traveling between locations...

anyways, as they curve towards me I am thinking, not towards me you don't... left... turn left....

the group zeros in on me and readjusts course and I know I am screwed, there will be no left... they are definately headed my way...

as they close the gap between us I start scanning faces. no hard hats or safety glasses, mix of young and old with males and females... ??? what's that mean? I haven't a clue... nice group?

They are almost on top of me before I spot Tim, my bosses boss, the guy with the hand tamper a while back.

I wave to tim and watch as the, now, temporarily known as knuckleheads, group tramps between my truck and the building where I am unloading.

talk to tim for a few seconds, look back at the group, which is now perched on top of my hose as the leader is pointing at the hook up.

I can't hear anything but the scream of the truck and pump but am fairly sure from the listeners body language the group leader is saying, "this is how we make money, it comes out here and goes in this pipe and we charge people for our end product."

I'm sure the body language would be much different if he were saying, "yeah, and if this hose breaks right now we will all be hosed down with this stuff, killing a couple of us before the paramedics even show up but the survivors will get a free ride to the hospital for treatment of chemical burns."

I am wearing my full chem suit, top and bottoms, boots, and holding my respirator... I don't think anyone but tim, who surprizingly... stays at the front of truck with me where it is atleast marginally safe even notices this little nuance.

I wonder to myself if I should shut the flow down or turn the truck off until the crowd clears??? I decide to let it fly and hope the noise will drive the group elsewhere quicker.

Tim says we may be getting additional business from this customer.

woohooo, we can always use more business !!! business equals paychecks and I like paychecks...

This little event makes me chuckle because this is the most safety conscious company I go to.

check in w/ guard, pull to unloading area, wait for company person to come check papers, do not open doors until both of you are in mop4 gear, use their hoses, ect, ect.

once unloaded, shut off your truck and call guard who will recall person to come and watch you unhook, and then will give you the all clear to restart your truck and leave the premises.

don't even start closing valves until this guy shows up. The big bosses window faces this area and he will have a coronary and be on everybody if proceedure is not followed.

I'm totally cool with this because its what the customer wants and???? whatever...??? I get paid to do it like you want it done...

now, either the big boss was off this day, or he was leading the group...

hillarious either way...


is tim the new rick??? he just keeps popping up from nowhere... and I haven't seen rick in ages...