CRETE - A Year in Review

First things first.
CONGRADULATIONS GRANDPA!!!

You are now officially a Grumpy Old Man.



Wow, is Christmas over already!

My 11 day vacation turned into a 17 day home stand. My load home for Christmas got me back to Phoenix on the 19th (Saturday) with a Monday morning delivery. That meant that I was still under dispatch when I arrived and Satuarday and Sunday didn't count towards my home time. Nor did Monday because I didn't put in my empty call until that morning, making Tuesday my first official day off.

From that point my 7 days of vacation and accumulated 4 days off began and I counldn't have enjoyed the continuous 70 degree weather any more, especially since I think I saw a grand total of two days above freezing during the prior month. A lot of cold out here this winter, but at least I have yet to see more than a flake or two of snow while driving this year. Now that's a change of pace I can deal with.

Time off was well spent with the family and general relaxing. Other than a little yard work I didn't lift a finger around the house, making it a true vacation in the Valley of the Sun. Much time was spent on the golf course (even got a little sun burnt) and I got myself a good dose of sports. The wife managed to procure a good set of tickets in the lower level from her company so that we could be present to see the Cardinal's get there butts kicked by Greenbay. Now we get to play them again this weekend in the first round.

I also had the good fortune of sitting in the 2nd row at a Phoenix Suns game (technically the 5th row because there are 3 rows of chairs on the floor). Another bad loss, to the Clipper no less. Shameful! But the food and beer were free with the $230 tickets (love company tickets). How great is that, especially after seeing the prices at the concession stands. $9 for one beer, insane!

My sports trifecta concluded with another appearance at the Phoenix dome with fine seats at the Fiesta Bowl. I really didn't care too much either way who won and decided to pull for Boise. What do you know, my team finally won while I was in attendance and I just couldn't get all that excited. At least it was a good game.

The Fiesta Bowl was kind of a last minute thing though, because it was on Monday, Jan 4th and I was suppose to be back on the road last Friday. I had actually contemplated coming back to work on the 29th or so since I had actually been home since the 19th, but the wife wasn't overly crazy about that plan and I decided to stick around. If I left any earlier I figured I would have just got stuck at a truckstop over New Years waiting for freight anyways. Just as well "not work" at home instead of in the the back of the truck.

Home time eventually came to an end and I called in Thursday night for a preplan and was told there were only a couple of loads availible and to call back in the morning. I suppose I could have been persistant and insisted on getting one of those loads, but to tell the truth, I was getting used to living in a house again and let it slide knowing very well what I would hear from dispatch on Friday morning.

I was right, "no freight left today, call back tomorrow morning".

Same story when I called in on Saturday morning, which was fine with me and by the time Sunday morning rolled around I had already set my sights on Monday morning as the beginning of my new work year which was a good thing because I was once again told to call back the following morning.

By this point I was seeing a pattern and also knew that dispatch wasn't putting all that much effort into my plight. I was also fairly confident that I wasn 't being put on the load board, therefore I wasn't officially in line for the next available load. Up to this point that was fine with me, but it was time to step in and get myself a load.

Instead of simply hanging up this time I asked them if they had put me on the load board and pointed out that I have been sitting at home for the last three days (poor me) waiting for a load. I also started pushing for a preplan because waiting until Monday morning to call in would undoubtedly have similar results. It took a little prodding, but I eventually got my way and I was put on a load out of the copper mines in Superior going to Atlanta (1800+ miles) and told to pick it up anytime after noon on Monday.

At this time I also made it very clear that I was not in the truck and that I would not be able to accept the load offer and would need him to go ahead and dispatch me on the load. I was told that he would take care of it and I was set to go.

Guess what happened when I pulled into the yard on Monday morning. Yup, no load. The load offer was sitting on the Qcom waiting for me, but that was it. Dispatch had conveniently not dispatched me on the load and sometime during the early morning hours the load was dispatched to someone else. And to top it off, it was late enough in the morning that all the load for Monday had been handed out and I was looking at another day at the house. I didn't know if I should be really pizd off or thrilled to be spending another day at the house. I suppose that will become clearer to me when I get my next two paychecks.

Dispatch insisted no more loads were available and I would have to check back in the following morning, but assured me that I was the first one on the load board. Not wanting a repeat of the days events I continued to pester them until I was sent a preplan for Tuesday morning. A load of dog food out of Flagstaff headed to Stockton, CA (850mi). Just great, my first CA bound load out of Phoenix in almost two years and it's going to a place where there is no outbound freight.

So instead of Tcalling my copper load in Atlanta on Wendesday night with 1800 miles under my belt, I am now sitting in Stockton on Thursday morning with 850mi and still waiting for a load out. After reading about "truckindogmom's" experience up here I can't imagine things are going to improve all that much.

I can't wait to see how things progress over the next month or two with this fine economy.

A Happy New Year indeed.