An old man's career goes flat, Snackbar moves to open deck

Mr. Fuel. I used to love it but it's starting to resemble a cattle wagon drop yard and starting to smell like a feed lot. There were at least a dozen dropped cow wagons, many of which weren't cleaned out, just dropped stankin the place up

 

This has been one of the hottest years down there. At least a dozen days last month they had us under a heat advisory with heat indexes above 110°, and we live in the northern part of the state, I can only imagine how hot it is down in little Cuba.

 

@kylefitzy, you're gonna need a map of the Arlington office the next time you venture this way...Mike is now in Darek's old office, Derek is in the office one door closer to Liz's old office. Not sure where they moved the lady that took over for Liz, but that office plaque now says "storage closet". The office across from the bathroom now says "storage closet". Kerry (the safety/recruiting person) quit. Kim from safety is now in the bullpen at the corner desk across from Jada. And one driver said that HR is no longer in the office at the end of the hall past the orientation room (not sure where they moved her)... it's getting spooky walking in the office anymore.

 

Ok, rant time, and it doesn't have anything to do with E.W. Smokey Point Wylie Distributing, Inc-LLC. or TFI/Daseke. It has to do with why eggs from cage free chickens cost so much more than eggs from couped up chickens. And why do 'cage free chicken' products exist. I used to work for a chicken plant. Chickens are stupid, they couldn't care less about being a cage free, or free range chicken. Their sole purpose in life is to eat, sleep, poop and mate before they become McNuggets. I guarantee that 9.5 out of 10 people couldn't tell the difference in taste between cage free and couped up chicken's eggs. So, if couped up chickens are cheaper, coup those suckers up.

 

Back on the road. First thing yesterday morning, while I was grabbing a replacement set of tarps, the planner let me know I was headed to Michigan on a Genie load that one of the local guys was picking up. I was a bit confused by why he didn't send me after my own load, but didn't complain because that means the load will be secured and ready, all I would need to do is give the driver an equal amount of securement gear that he used on the load. About 45 min later my dispatcher called and said there was a change of plans and now I needed to bob-tail to the Genie plant and meet the local guy. By the time I got there he had the load secured and ready, we just had to swap gear and I hooked to the load an leave. Apparently the guy had a more urgent load to take care of for another driver who didn't have the proper credentials to enter a customer's property, so he had to go handle that load. Either way, I got a load and was rolling. It's a 4 stop, 2 stops in Pasco, WA, 1 in WI and finals in Grand Rapids, MI. I managed to have just enough time to kick both Pasco stops off yesterday, I will be able to kick the WI off by mid-day on Friday and get a 34 in before dropping the final stop off Monday.

Another curious note, with all the new aluminum trailers we have sitting on the yard (with spreadable rear axles), they chose to load one of the old steel frame trailers that doesn't have axles that can spread, they only slide as a unit like a door slamming box trailer...

Also, with me delivering that close to Joliet, I am getting a feeling in the pit of my stomach that an Otis elevator load might be in my future...we shall see. Plus, the trailer I picked up had a set of tarps on it already, but the local guy didn't know what shape they were in, and wasn't gonna have room to schlep them back to Arlington, so now I have 2 3-piece sets of tarps...and this trailer has a set of the 1-by shingle load edge protectors under the tarps. I guess I am set and ready for just about anything.