Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Texans LOVE to give the finger...



Hi,
Sorry it has been a while on the updates, I have moved off the 0-90 day dispatch board, and moved into "real" employee land. My loads are spaced closer together, and time not behind the wheel is at a premium, (read: sleeping). While this is good for the paycheck, it is harder on the blogging time. I should have a better balance on this in a few weeks (I hope!).
I left the house a week ago, and headed straight to Kansas City, MO with a load of paper. Gotta love paper loads, they are heavy, and make hill climbing a challenge. My company not only governs the speed on the trucks, but also dials the power down on them. This is good for fuel consumption, and longevity of the engines, but most of my adventures you have probably noticed start with the saying "I was passed by..." Honestly, there are very few times I would like to go faster than I can, I believe in keeping the rubber side down forever.


I headed to South Carolina with a load out of Missouri, I stayed at a real truck stop the other night. I say real because it wasn't one of those chain "travel Centers" that I usually go to. This was a regular mom and pop owned, got a greasy spoon diner attached, mostly dirt lot, can fit 50 tractors but has about 65 in the lot kinda place.

I should have seen it coming, but after a 500 mile day, a bear of a loading dock to get into, oh, and my A/C has quit again, I got blindsided by a man talking to me in the parking lot. Seemed nice enough, when all of the sudden he pulls out a rag and some rubbing compound and starts polishing the wheels on my rig. He goes into the story of his pregnant wife needs money, and his crack head brother was looking to turn his life around...

"shit...walked right into this one" I somewhat think the joke was on him. I only had $4.00 in my pocket, which I ended up giving to him. He looked quite disappointed, and didn't even finish the polish job. He did, however leave polishing wax on the wheels. I was more than happy to finish the job!



OOOOOO...Shiny Wheels!
Well, Like I said, It's been really hectic on the road. It's 9:30 and I'm going to bed. Getting up early to run a load to Canada. I'm looking forward to this, I haven't been to the land of the maple leaf for a couple months now. I hope I remember how to do my border paperwork!



4 comments:

Unknown said...

Gotta keep up that shiny wheel look. Sounds as though you have put quite a few miles on that truck since you left home. Hope the weather stays cool so that you can survive without an airconditioner. Have fun in Canada. Get to use that new passport.
Mom

Sheepish Annie said...

Oh my goodness...those wheels are pretty impressive. Certainly worth the four bucks! You'll be the envy of all the other truckers.

Anonymous said...

Hey, why didn't you ask if he could fix your A/C?
Dad

Roadside Manners said...

A $4.00 A/C fix might be a little questionable...