Beep Beep Roadrunner

Before I came to trucking I always traded my labor for an hourly rate, excepting 4 years in the Marine Corps where I was paid a salary if you will for every month based on my rank and time in etc.

I was thinking about this the other day when the 4 year anniversary rolled around since I have been in my truck. Looking at the miles-- 416,000 miles in 48 months figure 40 weeks a year so 160 months comes out to 2600 miles a week. Not bad, not great. Goal going forward is 2750 a week for 40 weeks. Figure about 56 driving hours every one of those weeks. Over 2200 hours a year, butt plastered down to a seat for pay.

For comparison I was looking at my pension statement for the 18 years I worked in heavy construction. A little over 32,000 hours in that time. Our deal was 1200 hours in a year (cake) gets you 12/12ths pension credit for that year. Max credit is 1.5 credits after working 1800 hours in a year. I had 5 years over 2200 hours, and several at 1800. In 18 years I have earned 19 4/12ths vested pension credits. The goal of course is to get 30 credits as fast as you can before 30 actual years. It is hard to get in quicker than 30 years though with construction. \

I also had time off like crazy-- 3 different times off work for 6 months, most of the time it was off work for 2 months here, 3 months there-- but the last time was 15 months off, that is when I went to school to become a truck driver. Really enjoying it compared to working outside in extreme cold and heat, mud and rocks and concrete/steel, working over 100 feet in the air walking 14" beams, back aching so bad have to roll out of bed and hit the floor and crawl to the bathroom. Drive to work and getting out have to grab the roof rack to pull myself up out of the truck and walk half hunched over til the lower back spasms stopped.

Something I found works really great is to stand with feet about shoulder width apart and squat down til thighs are level with the ground then stand back up straight. Do this 25 times 4 sets. Probably will be wobbly legged after just 25 til you build up strength in your legs but build up to 100 reps then 200 then 500 soon will have Ahnold legs.

 

No, I got out in April of 1990. Saddam invaded Kuwait during the summer and the U S troops were sent over to Saudi for about 8 months for Desert Shield. Everyone teased me that I would be called back soon. When the bombs started dropping on Baghdad in mid January I had a feeling. Was up in Reno with a girlfriend partying, got back home and got the news that I had been recalled to active duty.

When I got out after 4 years active duty they still had me for 4 more years inactive duty. I would have to go down to Hayward CA and check in at a small base over off of Whipple I think it is. A huge hanger and some offices around there-- only say that because that's where I had to muster when they called me back, plus I delivered a load over near there back in my Swift days. Abby and I walked around over there, place is totally fenced off and rusting to death.

Anyway getting back to the story, I was activated in Hayward CA, given orders and a plane ticket to Jacksonville NC to report to Camp LeJeune for 30 days of 'Casualty Replacement' training.

Everyone expected when the ground war started Saddam was going to drop his chemical and biologicals on us.

When we got to Camp Lejeune it was a ghost town. The whole situation was a clusterfunk-- imagine 30,000 marines just called up from inactive duty including officers, nobody knew what to do. We spent hours in the gym sitting in the stands waiting for admin types to call our names to receive our orders and update our files and stuff. Then go to medical and get every kind of shot there is. Then back to the barracks and sit around doing nothing for days. We'd go to town to visit the bars and clubs and the wives and girlfriends of the deployed were asking us a million questions. The Tig ole Bittie bars just about went out of business before we showed up.

Finally a reserve colonel came along and organized the officers and nco's and had us doing formation a couple times a day, organized PT, got us to supply and exchanged all our cammies for brand new albeit still woodland green lol.

Then we all got gas masks. They would march us down to the gas chamber every day it seemed like and we'd go in groups into the gas chamber and come out coughing and wheezing, snot hanging all the way to the ground. About every 20 minutes all day and all night long someone was yelling "GAS GAS GAS" and we'd have 17 seconds to don and clear the mask.

Finally we got our rifles, they came in straight from the factory off the back of trucks still wrapped in the oily waxy paper. That was the most accurate M16 I had ever shot. It had never been dropped or used as a blunt force object against an enemy dummy.

We were just days away from being flown over to Saudi when the war was over after 100 hours. We sat around a couple more days and were given plane tickets home. They said we'd get a medal to be determined (I understand it is called the Persian Gulf Medal or something like that) anyway, I never heard any more about it.

My uncle who did 2 tours in Vietnam took me to breakfast when I got back. My hair was marine corps high and tight, this lady came over and asked if I was in the service this and that, proud and thank you for serving etc. My uncle was shocked because he came back to being spat on and called baby killer.

Anyway that was me, always in the rear with the beer.

 

Got another quick story from my Marine days. Was stationed over in Okinawa in 1987. Somehow I got roped into a security detail to go down to Kadena Air Base (I was stationed at Camp Courtney). I don't know what our purpose was, I mean we are in the middle of an air base already, no weapons were issued to us anyway. But the brass wanted some Marines on hand. An SR-71 was coming in hot from a Soviet Union spy overflight and was to land on Kadena. Again I don't know how we were supposed to help with that lol. So this thing comes ripping in across the sky and can't land. We were told it had to go back around the entire East China Sea a couple turns to slow down for its approach landing. Then it landed around 1000 local time. More standing around-- around noon they send us over to the chow hall there on base.

Marine chow goes like this, you check in with your meal card then grab a tray and a plate and stand in front of someone on the line who slaps gobs of slop on your plate. Can't have macaroni and mashed potatoes- one or the other- they are both starches lol.

Air Force chow-- walk in past a 500 gallon salt water aquarium, musak softly playing, and a velvet coated gentleman escorts you to your seating area. Given a menu and time to think about what you want to order. About this time the mess sergeant comes running out screaming that we all have to leave. The last time Marines came in to that chow hall they reached into the aquarium and ate all the fish sushi style. I guess he could tell we weren't grunts so we were allowed to eat lol.

 

OK one more quick one from Okinawa. I was a motor transport marine. Drove humvees, cucvees, jeeps and 5 tons. Was stationed on Camp Courtney, battalion sized base with 3 companies if I remember right. I was in Service Company. So being battalion size, (about 1000 troops to a battalion) our unit was about 880 troops. The armory had about 1000 rifles. So every week or 2 a marine was 'volunteered' from a couple or three units like Supply, Motor Pool, Chow Hall to go down to the armory for a week of TAD duty just cleaning unassigned weapons.

I was a green jarhead having just graduated boot camp and motor T school in the last 5 months. I was dutifully and judiciously cleaning weapons left and right all business no play and presenting them to the armory sgt who would approve and place them back in their racks. Meanwhile the other marines who were supposed to be cleaning weapons were smoking and joking like they were on vacation.

Sgt (can't remember her name now) discovered I was from the motor pool and had me go get a 5 ton truck and bring it up to the armory, she had some rifles that needed to get sent up to Camp Hansen for the marines assigned to go to the rifle range for their annual qualifying. On Okinawa you drive on the left side of the road. Anyway we bounced up to Hansen, I kept looking over at here, she was literally getting air with the bouncing seat and seemed to really love it. She looked so hot in her pressed and starched woodland green utility uniform, bloused trousers with just a hint of green wool socks peaking out the top of her spit shined boots and with the loaded M1911A1 pistol holstered on her hip bouncing up and down in that seat....

When we got back she got me assigned to 6 months TAD (Temporary Additional Duty?- forget exactly) to the armory. It actually turned into 11 months there til the end of my tour on the Rock.

This armory had pistols, 45's and 38's M60, and 50cals, plus some old Vietnam captured and inert weapons like a AK47 and a grenade launcher. But a dirty little secret this place had going back to the Vietnam war was also 9 50 calibre barrels that were not assigned nor accounted for on any ledgers. Every Sgt of the armory going back the previous 20 years had kept them hidden during monthly inspections (every month some unlucky officer would come in and count and check every serial number on every weapon in the armory).

We got a new Sgt a couple months into my TAD and he immediately reported to our CO about the 9 barrels lol. There was a lot of hemming and hawing from the officers, looking at us like they just were disgusted with us and couldn't trust us lol. Finally some Navy investigative types came in and confiscated the 9 barrels and that was the last we heard of it.

Marines were supposed to come down to the armory once a week and check out their weapon to clean it. To check it out you'd have to submit your ID and weapon card to the armorer to hold while the weapon was out of inventory. One day the XO a lieutenant colonel came in wanting his pistol. I asked for his cards, he kept asking me if I knew who he was in an ever angrier voice. It got down to the point I wouldn't give him his weapon and nothing he could do, afterall I was armed and loaded inside a locked cage. I had the authority. Next thing I know, I'm being called to go see my captain who tells me 'we bend the rules for the XO of the camp' lol.

Next week comes around and here is the XO standing in front of the cage. Oh man why me. But this time he is very cheerful and respectful. Gives me his cards and says he respects a marine who stands for principles was very happy that I did not give in last week and wuss out.

 

Lots of slick icy roads between Houston Portland and Seattle this trip. Put me in Seattle area pretty late. My trailer was preloaded at 0500 yesterday, didn't get to the terminal to get it til almost midnight. Then couldn't find the trailer even though the paperwork was showing my trailer number. Turns out they loaded my trailer and assigned for someone else to take across the country someplace. Not liking that deal at all since I have to pay for tires and brakes and insurance on the thing, I don't trust anyone hauling my trailer possibly over curbs or down steep hills using only their trolley bar. Plus I have all the registration in my permit book, not sure how that is going to work out for the guy who is pulling my trailer then gets pulled into a weigh station for a level 3 or better (worse).

So I'm back under a RR trailer again, gotta say a couple things I don't like about these Wabashes is I can't see the middle yellow marker/turn signal light with my mirrors and it is difficult to climb up into the trailer with the driver side trailer door shut, no place to really get a good handhold like the Hyundai has. Plus in the snow I like to step up on the ICC bumper and reach up with my broom handle and clear the snow off the 3 middle red chicken lights up there, hard to do so with the Wabash, no grab holds.

So we are on our way to Livermore CA 1st stop then Mira Loma CA final.

One of my trips isn't going to pay this week, the RR agent load I booked- they say the POD wasn't signed. Waiting now for a call back and confirmation because I am looking right at the signed POD in my hand that I transfloed last week. I don't know what else can go wrong this week.

 

Finally made it to Los Angeles. Getting loaded tonight for a Spokane/Seattle. Wanted to get loaded for Livermore- while Abby I were walking around the terminal we found our Xtralease trailer. No loads going to Livermore but they are making arrangements to have my trailer meet me in Seattle. Found a new dent in my trailer, looks like the driver backed up full speed and his pointy 5th wheel hit the front of the trailer.

 

While waiting for the preload in Mira Loma, went over to the TA and had 2 drive tires replaced. Gonna try recaps one more time and see how they do. Tried 'em back in 2011 but they didn't quite last 30,000 miles-- of course that was before I found out the alignment was off 15/32nds.

So hooked up to the trailer and discover a top light is burned out. They do have a protocol in place to call a fleet service to come out and fix stuff like that on Pool trailers but the guy guesstimated a couple of hours. TA is 2.9 miles away and I know they can get me in and out 20 to 40 minutes easy. Figure pay the bill and ask for reimbursement. Ummm still working on getting my money back.

Woke up to a flat tire this AM, luckily it was just a bad valve stem easy quick fix.

Stopped in Pendleton OR to play the dice lol. Must've tipped at least a couple hundred bucks to the crew-- next time I will try to keep track better how much I am giving them. Risked $300 walked out with $560. I was pretty much losing all night, started with $100 bucks to play with and reloaded ammo twice more for $100 each time but it was the last 'hand' that I threw where I won all the money.

Pass Line $5 bet, then throw 7- let it ride now Pass Line at $10 bet. Throw a 'point' 4 place $5 true odds bet behind $10 and $5 on Come. Throw 11 and Come bet wins. let it ride at $10 bucks Come. Throw another number (5,6,8,9,10) and the Come bet moves to that number now. Did that about 4 times on the Come then started putting nickels on the Don't Come (some of those bets won when the shooter threw a Craps-- 3 or 12, 2 is a push- that's the house advantage at work) and loading up the back side of those same number kinda like stock market arbitrage. Say my 10 Come bet wins, now the Don't Come moves behind the 10 with $20 bucks lay against it true odds. Now if 7 rolls that 10 will pay off 1:1 on the base bet and 1:2 on the true odds bet. Kept winning and winning and doubling and tripling my bets. When my roll went dead I 'colored up'-- time to walk Abby one more time before bed. They don't have any purple chips here ($500) so they had to give me 5 black chips.