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The week from.................................
Big Sky Redneck
Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
Last Friday I was in Albany, picked up a load to go to NC. The del date was pushed ahead to Wed so dispatch sent a message to my truck to come to the yard and pick up a load to Chelsea Mass,no problem. Sunday it snowed pretty good and I couldnt get the energy to leave home in the truck but around 9pm I said "time to go" and proceeded to say goodbye to the family. I drove west from here to the yard, fueled the truck and retrieved my bills from the mailbox. The bills had my name on them along with my truck and trip number. I could not find the directions to this place in the mailbox so I says I'll try to pull them off of the truck computer later. I went out back and did a drop and hook to the right trailer, hooked up with another driver who was going to Mass also. Off we go. We hit I80 around 10pm and headed east. After a couple of hours we made it to I81 and started north, as we got to the top of the mountain overlooking Scranton the weather and roads turned to crap, put an end to the fun part of trucking. All the way up 81 and across I84 we dealt with slushy roads and a few non driving idiots,BTW the only boo boo we saw was a PA Trooper stuck in center field and did we ever give him a hard time on the radio!! Just after 5am we arived at the Sturbridge Mass picnic area. I sent a message via satalite to dispatch informing them I had no directions and I was going to take a nap and wait for them to send me directions. Around 7:45am I got a message asking me to call in with my bills and trailer number handy and the message also had a few other things in it but being tired I only skimmed the message and sent a reply that I had the correct trailer and it was going to Chelsea Milling in Chelsea Mass and I needed directions. Chelsea is in Boston and I aint going in there not knowing where I was going! After I sent the reply I went back and reread the message dispatch sent. Upon closer reading I noticed it said the load I had was originally picked up in Mass and delivered in Chelsea Mich and why the hell was I in Mass! I reread it a couple of times and got scared, I reached up in the sunvisor and retrieved the bills from the little holder and read the addresses. After staring in horror at the address on the bills I looked at the message sent on Friday for this load, it said Chelsea Mass. I grabbed the cb mike and yelled for Jack, when he answered I told him to come up to my truck, I then explained to him and showed him the messages and bills, he told me I better call dispatch so I stuck the truck in gear and flew up to Sturbridge Isle truck stop, I still was in my PJ's(sweats) with no boots or shirt when I pulled in to the truck stop, I threw on my boots and ran in to call and found out we had a bad mistake in the works. After alot of finger pointing it was decided that I make the 750 mile venture to Mich for Tuesday morning. Jack arrived at the truck stop shortly after and I explained to him over breakfast what happened. Dispatch screwed up on Friday and sent me to the wrong place, atleast I get paid for driving up to Mass and back. Off I go back down 84. I made it to Scranton and decided it was time for a couple hour nap. I pulled into the Petro, went inside to make a few calls. I called the wife and made the mistake of telling her what happened. She thought it was funny as hell and laughed at me! I went out to the truck and just got comfy in the bunk and started to fall asleep. BANG! The truck gave one heck of a lurch and I almost fell out of bed, I got up and in a hurried fashion jumped out front onto the seat and saw a huge( you would be surprised how big a 53' trailer looks when you are half asleep) trailer dragging on my truck. After I blew the air horns for him to stop and called him a few nice names on the cb he stopped. Busted up my truck he did. After the usual exchange of info and calls to our companies I went back to my truck to check out the damage. I straighted out my mirror and looked at my step and decided it would drag on the raod if left like that so I hops in the truck and asked for a flatbedder on the cb. I explained what happened and told them I needed a 4x4(flatbedders have these for steel coils) to straighten out my step. One fella said he could help me if I drove around to the back row where he was. Off I go again. As I started around to the back row I saw smoke coming from under my hood, my radio started cutting out and I got worried, slammed on the brakes, shut the truck down and jumped out. I yanked the hood open to see the power steering pressure line was really hot. I stood there for a second trying to figure out why it was smoking, reached inside for the fire extinguisher just in case it caught fire and it sure did. I put the fire out and it kept coming back, it finally hit me this was electical so I went to the step that dude smashed up for me which also houses 4 batteries yanked off the cover and noticed 2 of them was starting to smoke. I went to the side box , grabbed out a pair of vice grips and promptly unhooked the batteries. After putting the fire out again it was over. Now I got a crowd of truck drivers around me running their yaps about the show and I'm infuriated. Back to the phone I went. I was told to calm down and they would send another truck piggyback to me and tow this junker back to the shop. Back to the truck I went and now I need to move this dead horse out of everybodys way. It sure as heck aint gonna start so I found me a flatbedder who would gladly chain me up and drag it to the side of the lot. For those of you familiar with truckers and their love for cetain trucks this proved to be humiliating for me because the guy who was going to drag my truck had a "13 letter * spreader"(International) and was going to drag my Peterbuilt in front of everbody. Add insult to injury. After this was done I went inside and screwed off untill the other truck showed up, he got there at midnite!! Think I didnt have a few choice words for him! After we split my unit and I got the new truck hooked to my trailer I helped him piggyback the dead one, finally got out of there at 1am and I gotta be in Mich at 8am! I pulled into Hubbard Ohio at 6am and said thehell with it,I'm going to bed. I slept for 3 hours, called dispatch and they told me to get my * out to Mich, the customer will take it today still. Off I go. I made it to Toodleedoo (Toledo) and stopped for lunch. I called dispatch while enjoying a cheeseburger from BK and was informed to wait till morning to deliver,commence profanity. Ok, Chelsea Mich is an hour and a half from Toledo, it's bed time and I'm beyond tired. Off I go to bed, sleep till 11pm. I get up , go take a shower and take care of some personal stuff. Around 3am I take off for Mich and arrive at Chelsea at 5am, there was a wreck on rt23 that held me up so it took longer than I expected to get there. Anywho, I try to get some sleep at Chelsea Milling while waiting for the dock workers to come to work. They get there at 6am, so much for sleeping. I went to back into the wharehouse and discover that the landing gear on the trailer is too low to clear the ramp, commence swearing up a storm. After some serious discusions with dock working truck experts (funny how they get real smart in certain situations) I crawl under the truck and do some magic with the air suspenion to get the trailer higher (that impressed them!). Finally get the thing in the door and 2 hours later the load from hell is off the trailer. Here it is Wed and I finally got the Monday load off! I inform dispatch of my success and they reward me with a new load that picks up in Detroit, more severe cussing! Off I go. After I get into the pick up in Detroit I discover that the load has to be in Philly at 6am tomorrow. 700+ miles and I gotta go thru Mich and Ohio with their stupid speed laws for those killer trucks and try to make good time. I get loaded around noon and, off I go. Now we are only allowed to drive 10 hours a day but real truckers get around that. It took 2 hours to get from Chelsea to Detroit so now I have 8 hours to drive and that puts me in State Colledge PA. No I don't run the PA pike, real truckers aint afraid of running thru the woods to save $$. Now it's around midnight and I got a decision to make, I have been up since 11pm the previous night and I'm tired but the load gotta go. I throw the log book in the bunk, grab a fresh 2 litre of Mountain Dew and decide I need to impress my dispatcher. Off I go. I arrive in The City Of Brotherly Love at 4:30pm this morning, find the customer after some good map work for the city. Time for bed! At 6am someone is banging on my door, grab the gun, whoever it is better have a good excuse for getting me up! It's the dock manager and he wants me to back into the door so he can get his damn juice off of my trailer, yep time to start cussing. I get backed into the door (crooked) and go back to bed. Why do they have to drive 90mph in my trailer with those dang forklifts!? Think I can sleep!? NO! Just when I would fall asleep her comes Mario Andretti to win the race in my trailer, where is that gun? Unloaded at 9:45am. Time to get that log book out and try to make it look legal. I inform dispatch that their precious load is off and what kind of miracles do they want today. They tell me that my old truck is fixed and they want me to come to the yard to switch back into it. Bullcrap! I like this one! Are you sensing that I'm feeling cranky? Off I go. Wouldnt you know that some dipwad decided to put a construction zone on I76 at the 202 split! Every aggressive driving idiot is out today trying to get in front of my truck while we sit in a 3 mile long backup! If they knew how I felt they wouldnt try that! At 3pm I make it to my house, time for lunch. I walk in the door and my loving wife says "Hi lost puppy", remember the first part of this story? After threatining to dismember her limb by limb she smiles and heads to the kitchen, you don't want to know what I was thinking. I decide to call dispatch and inform them that I would be at the yard later to get back into that piece of junk and give up this brand new truck that they so kindly lent me, arseholes. I was told that they had a load in the yard going to VA tonite and I was supposed to take it, yep, I'll get right on it. They also told me that there is a driver in the yard waiting for me so he can get this truck, he has to be in NY at midnight tonite and why the hell aint I there yet! Well kiss my.....! I told them after I have lunch I would be right up, not good enough, they want me there asap. Now I'm ready to scream, I think I actually did. I told wifey to get in the car and follow me to the yard. We get to the yard and I explain to them that I havent had anything to eat since yesterday, I'm tired and I aint going to VA, and they can have that dang truck. They must be deaf because they told me to put my stuff in the old truck and hurry. I asked them why if the other driver was in such a hurry why he didnt take the old truck and we switch this weekend, for some reason the truck is no good for him to go to NY in but it is ok for me to drive! I go out and start taking my stuff out of the truck and place it in the car, the owners wife comes out and asks me why I'm putting the stuff in my car instead of the other truck, I quickly give her a rundown of the week and inform her I'm going home. After some butt kissing on her part she tells me she will straighten this out and to call her in the morning. I told her I'm not driving that old truck and I aint going to VA. She tells me that I don't have to go to VA, she has another load that delivers in NJ tomorrow night at 10pm, so much for being home early on Friday. I left out several parts of the discussion at the yard because I don't feel like typing all night. Anywho, I'm home trying to think of a good reason to tell her that for some reason I aint going to NJ tomorrow. I guess I'll call her in the morning and see what I can do. It's been a hard sleepless week and I'm tired. Goodnight. Somebody better shut that dog up out there or I'm getting the .22!!!!!!!!!! I want peace and QUIET!!!!!!!!!
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Reserving my Right to Arm Bears!!!!