Truckin' Around...
Well it's been 9 days since the last cigarette...but who's counting,right?.. and that was an ultra light-only one all day,while I was fueling up before I left for Orchard Park.
Went to Zelienople and Fremont this week,loaded back to Roanoke out of Macedonia both times. Yesterday I went down to Petersburg and loaded 60' piling going about 10 miles North of Portage, Wisconsin for Monday delivery. Already got a load back to Norfolk out of Crystal Lake,Il. We had about 18-20 loads going up there,most on 53' trailers,but I pull a 48. I put about 3' hanging off the front ( we have headache racks on the trucks,no headboards on the trailers) with about a 9' rear overhang. I could get away with a little extra overhang on the front because the piling is all in one stack in the center of the trailer,so it won't hit the headache rack when I make a turn. Some guys are leaving tomorrow,some Sunday. I think I'm going with the Sunday morning departure.The return load doesn't load until Tuesday,and as the late "Hippie" used to say " everybody can't be first ". I used to leave after church on Sunday going to Boston and Chicago and be there at 7am Monday morning,but that's when I was A young man. If I leave pretty early Sunday I should be able to get it off by Monday evening anyway. And that's something that doesn't really bother me A lot anymore. Sometimes of course A customer may need or want something at 7am and I'll do my best to get it there,but for the most part when I get tired I'm looking for a wide spot and pull over and take a nap. The company I used to drive for,for over 25 years ( until the one A-hole dispatcher came along that I just couldn't get along with,and anybody'll tell ya if ya cain't get along with me,ya cain't get along with yourself! ),would fine you $25 (taken out of your safety bonus) for not delivering at 7 am,whether it needed to be or not. Todd told me when I first went to work for him " I'm more concerned about my trucks arriving somewhere safe and up on the wheels than I am about them being somewhere at 7 am". Makes sense to me. I have unloaded in Fremont,Ohio on Monday morning, sitting there when they opened,loaded back to Lynchburg,Va and was sitting back in Fremont Wednesday morning before they opened,loaded back to Lynchburg out of Sharon,Pa, and was back in Fremont Friday morning when they opened. But if I hadn't unloaded until after lunch every time,it wouldn't have made any difference at the end of the week. I would have still ran 3 Fremonts that week,and that ain't shabby.
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