Wow, I have a new appreciation for folks that run a day cab in the city.....
This was by far one of the ugliest weeks I have had in a while. I would rather run up and down through Sea-Tac for 16 hours a day than to run around Vancouver for 10.
The rain this week seemed never ending and with the Pacific Northwest freight slowing down I had an opportunity to work the city in order to keep my hours up. (Insert root canal here).
I had a decent start to the week doing a Tacoma Spanaway rounder which put 16 hours in my pocket but the following day is when the wheels fell off. I was scheduled to run south but when I arrived at the yard I was told by dispatch that the highway teams needed the load. Nice.....bastards.
For my non trucking friends a company will endeavor to run as many miles as possible with a load. If you do not have a load your unit really becomes a cost center. When you have a load you are either breaking even or turning a profit. Makes sense right? If there are trucks sitting idle in an area it becomes more cost effective to have them take the load rather than moving empty.
OK so I have rationalized it....but they are still bastards for taking my load.
My morning started my trying to hook to a trailer that some bone head had dropped about 4 inches lower than my drive tires....how he/she got out from under it is beyond me.
In order to lift the trailer high enough for me to couple on to it I cranked for over one half hour.....tired....in the dark.....autumnal monsoon rain falling......highway bastards.
Hooked, then off I went to my first drop following my GPS as I am not familiar with parts of the city. After being GPS challenged for an hour or so I found my customer and off loaded. Day break was upon me, rain had stopped, trailer empty....OK day is shaping up I figured.
I entered the yard address into my GPS and selected "make most use of freeways" thinking this would get me on a big road and out of area with the least effort. Horseshit.....there is no replacement for a good map book. I followed the directions over hill and dale, through residential areas, school zones and mall parking lots.
Once I had my bearings and into an area I recognized I proceeded down a recognized truck route in the middle of rush hour, quite comfortable in knowing that I have gotten back into a familiar road.
To my puzzlement cars began veering left and right getting off the road as I came along. Christ I am not that bad of a driver I thought. Further ahead EMS crews, Fire trucks, utility crews had stopped at the bottom of the hill right where I needed to turn....did they hear I was coming I chuckled to my self.
Actually there was a major fire and the road had been closed. I could not go right or left as I was not about to venture of the truck route. I approached the scene and there was no way to get around it. So I calmly backed into a residence drive way and got my self turned around. All 75 or so feet of me.
In a panic I figured I would take the first right and see if it would get me back on the route I needed. Off through an orchard I go to a point the you can only turn left. No worries I am making progress. Ahead is a sign that says NO TRUCKS.....it is as the base of a 20 or so percent grade. I looked left and right and was unable to avoid it so throwing all caution to the wind and being empty I put my foot in it and and started to climb. The hill is only about 10 blocks long and I am comfortable I can get up it.
I did without issue however as I turned right on a street that is now on the horizontal my trailer dolly legs got caught up on the pavement and I began to spin....I locked up my axles to provide more traction and rolled a couple of feet back ( couldn't go further as there was about 10 cars following me thinking I had a clue). Again I was hung up. I set my brakes and got out, calmly smiled and the traffic waiting now in all directions and cranked my legs up another inch or so. Rolled back then tried again. It worked but now my truck frame was caught on my trailer frame and although I wanted to go right the vehicle had other intentions.
So edging straight I planted my steering axle in a ditch....good lord I uttered....I paraphrase. Now what. Actually it was a good thing....it released my truck frame away from the trailer frame allowing me to roll back and make a right turn.
Into the traffic I went arriving back at the yard about two hours after leaving the customer. So we can put it all in perspective it is about 10 miles from customer to yard....shut up.
So that is how the week started and it got worse from there. In my mind anyway. Really it is all good, you learn, you move on. It could have been much worse. All you can do is shake your head and hope the dispatch gods give you a load south. What did I learn? Don't get pissed off, keep a positive outlook, get rest before your next shift, don't depend on a GPS (fondly referred to as Great Piece of Shit), and .....highway guys are still bastards.
Later
