10 years--Gettin' back on the horse!

Tuesday June 17, 2008

Ol' man Murphy is kickin me while I'm down.

Monday morning about 4 am, I bobtailed down to the shop to get back under my trailer. As I start to back under it, I notice it's sitting a little low... actually, a LOT low. &%$#!!! It was sunk in the ground about a foot! Two hours of cranking in low gear and using chunks of 2x4 and the air bags to lift it an inch at a time... I finally get hooked on. It's now 6:05 am.

A couple of hours later, I show up at the Port of Panama, reach back for my wallet 'cause I know they want to see my ID... &%$#!!! NO WALLET! It's sitting on the table at home.

Mr. Security Dude comes out and starts writing down my plate number and so forth on his clipboard. I interrupted him and told him before he got too far, that I had no wallet and therefore no ID. He told me to park it, go into the office and have my company fax a copy... no problem.

After informing the load planner about my predicament, he sets me up on a load that will run me through the house so I can get my wallet. But first... I am taking a load from Panama City to the state docks in Mobile, AL.

I head on over to Smurfit-Stone and wait to get loaded... and wait and wait. It was getting down to the wire because Truck Control in Mobile closes at 16:30 and it was now 13:00 as I left Smurfit in Panama City.

So, I hit the highway and hammer down 72 mph, as fast as the old beast will go... but... not fast enough. I roll into Truck Control just as they are closing up shop. %&$#!!! Now I had to sit on the load overnight.

I got a Comcheck from dispatch so I could get something to eat, and waited it out at the Pilot in Satsuma.

Which brings us to today...

I headed back down to Truck Control and went inside with my bills and my paper faxed copy of my license. You're probably already ahead of me now...

"What's that?" he says, as I hand him my paper ID, "I can't take that!"

So... I sit here at Truck Control with no ID, no fuel card, an 1/8 tank of fuel, and yet another wasted day. For &%$# sakes Mr. Murphy... please let go of my balls.

 

Now I don't care who ya are... people would pay real money to see that. That was freakin hilarious!

The rest of my week seems to be going ok, knock on wood.

I ended up having another one of our drivers, who also had a load going to the docks, bring my load in for me. After leaving the docks, my wife met me up in Evergreen with my wallet so I could get some fuel... might be able to salvage this week after all.

On another note, did anyone hear about the guy who lost his chip trailer on I-10 in Florida? I went by as he was pacing up and down, talking on his cellphone, beside the disconnected trailer that had slid into the ditch. Now that's a bad day!

I need to install a dash cam so I can get video of this stuff.