I guess it's called confidence

Well at least I didn't strain anything permanently.

Yesterday was what you might call eventful. One of the more interesting events was a landing gear that jammed. I strained something in my shoulder trying to crank it up. But I'm in a good bit less pain this evening than this morning, so it doesn't seem to've been permanent.

So I won't talk about that.

In fact, I guess I won't talk about yesterday much at all. It was what you might call one thing after another--not boring, but neither entertaining nor edifying. Today was a bit more relaxing. But I did run into something interesting.

I stopped for fuel this morning, and another truck belonging to the same company I drive for pulled in behind me. After I had fueled and pulled forward he pulled in and started to fuel his own truck. I went in to get something at the convenience store (convenience stores are dangerous that way). When I got back, the other driver waved, and then motioned me to come talk.

Turned out he wanted help sliding his tandems. I've talked about that part of this job before, so I won't go into too much detail here. But it is the kind of thing that's easier with two people--one moving the truck while the other watches to make sure he doesn't move it too far.

But that's not what he needed. He wanted me to help figure out how much to move it.

He had his scale ticket, and it told him how much too heavy his tandem wheels were. But he couldn't figure out how much to move the wheels to make it balance. I told him a few of the rules of thumb we use for that, and then about how much they said to move it. Then I watched while he did--as I said, two people does make it easier.

I also suggested he should scale it again just to make sure--the rules of thumb are not that reliable. I don't know whether he did that or not--I had to roll. I hope so.

The scary thing is, he was a lease operator. Translation: he rents a truck from the company, and pays the rent out of his own profits. I get paid a price per mile. He gets paid a considerably larger price from which he buys fuel, scale tickets, repairs, and whatever else the truck needs.

In other words, where I am an employee, he's running his own business.

Several people have tried to talk me into doing that. My response is always the same: "if I were that good a businessman, I'd be in another business." Maybe he is that good a businessman. I don't know. What I do know is that he hasn't bothered to learn some of the basics of operating a truck. If you don't know how to balance the load, and have to call a friend when it doesn't scale properly, something is wrong.

I worry about that guy.

A trucker's holiday

I drove under a parade today.

I didn't know what it was at first. I had just passed an exit with a large (and permanent) "NO TRUCKS" sign, and noticed that it was closed to EVERYBODY today. Orange cones across the opening, and a police car with bright flashing lights and a uniformed gentleman leaning on the hood with his arms crossed. Obviously something was going on.

Then I looked at the overpass coming up and saw a big ol' truck pullng a big ol' flatbed trailer. Flashing lights all over the truck, as if it normally spent its time pulling oversize loads. Something bulky on the trailer, though I could't make it out at first.

So what was a big ol' truck doing pulling a big ol' trailer across the expressway on a street that was posted "NO TRUCKS"? Hmm...

That was when I noticed that the railings on that particular overpass were noticeably more colorful than the norm. And that the extra colors were reds, whites, and blues. And about that time I noticed that the top of the trailer was waving. With several hands. In different directions.

Fourth of July in Massachusetts. Kind of charming.

Taking the coward's way
And it made me feel a little better about a decision I'd already made an hour or so before. I had two sets of instructions about how to get to today's customer. The directions on file with Dispatch said to follow expressways all the way to a certain exit, then take the exit and the warehouse was right there. The Fuel Department said take a shortcut that involved about fifteen miles of two-lane road. Now normally I'll do what I'm told about those shortcuts. Unless the directions make no sense coming from that direction. Or unless I know the road in question isn't usable. You know, like straight up a mountain, or over a bridge that'll barely hold a Cadillac.

And normally, I would have taken this one. But a two lane road through at least two small-town business districts? On the biggest day of the year for small-town parades? I MIGHT have gotten away with it, but...

And I felt still better when I brazenly followed the expressway and got off at the specified exit. There on the right was the turnoff to the customer. And there on the left was a road that led to a state park. And a sign saying the state park was "FULL."

Yeah, I think today was a special case...

An hour or so later
I pulled up to the guard shack at a large chain-store Distribution Center (warehouse writ large) and showed them my bills. They looked at them and asked for an appointment number.

"Any other kind of load, we could look it up," they said. But this one wasn't going to the warehouse. It was going to about two dozen different stores in their chain, and they had shipment numbers for ALL of them. No way they could negotiate their computer maze and find the appointment number for themselves.

So I sent a message to my dispatcher. Long pause. Then, "Fax us the Bills of Lading, and I'll try to get you an appointment number."

They'd sent me more than a thousand miles, giving me three days to get there. I was supposed to negotiate the place on a holiday. And they hadn't done the paperwork yet.

It took me half an hour to figure out how to use the fax machine at the guard shack. (They didn't know how to use it either...) And another two hours to get an answer after they got the faxes. But I did get the number. And I did get the trailer dropped. And picked up an empty.

Whereupon I was told where to pick up my next load. Tomorrow morning. Still in New England.

I may have mentioned how hard it is to park in New England.
I don't really think they try to keep us out, but they do make it hard to stay overnight. In this case, there wasn't a truck stop listed within 75-100 miles of the shipper.

Fortunately, the people at this Distribution Center understand. When I came in, they gave me a map of their yard. On the back was a list of places to park. Not all of them official.

So here I am,
hiding in the back corner of a commuter park'n'ride lot. There are four or five other trucks back here, and the police came by an hour ago without comment, so I think I'm all right. There's a drug store across the street, and a WalMart© down the road, so I'm actually better set up than I often am. I do wish I had a shower nearby, but other than that I'm pretty well off.

I don't know if I'll see any fireworks tonight. The lady in the drug store said they're talking about some at a park a few miles down the road. They may be visible, they may not.

But what the heck. I saw a few seconds of a parade, anyhow.