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 ith only two hours remaining on his shift for the day, Don decided to stop at a truckstop to take a small bathroom break this morning. As he was returning to the highway, a combination of factors - but most of all his own inattention - resulted in his getting tangled-up with another truck. Don was making a left-hand turn and clipped the front fender of a truck that was sitting in the left hand turn lane. Don was facing the sun and in heavy traffic and didn't clearly see what his trailer was doing until it was too late.
 The other driver was stopped 15 feet over the stop bar, so the officer very graciously decided to not cite anyone in the accident and left it for the insurance companies to squabble over. It's not an excuse for Don hitting a stopped vehicle in traffic, but it was a contributing factor along with all of the others. | |
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 here hasn't been much to report other than, if you live in the United States, there's about a 75% probability I've been within 100 miles of your house in the past two and a half weeks. No kidding, we've been up the entire eastern seaboard from Atlanta to Providence. We've been to Chicago, the Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Let's not forget Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Knoxville, Nashville, Little Rock, Shreveport, Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and El Paso. In all, 14,500 miles in 16 days.
My student Don is from Michigan as I mentioned previously. I discovered that his mom is/was part of a lesser-known Motown girl group, The Velvelettes. Don likes listening to modern jazz;. lots and lots and lots of modern jazz. Imagine the soundtrack to the community bulletin board channel on your local cable service playing constantly. I wake-up in a cold sweat in the middle night while he's driving, sure that I'm missing some important lecture on planting mums at the county extension office.
With all of this non-stop driving, it's nice to have a break today. We got to Kansas City early this morning and dropped our loaded trailer. We don't get loaded until 1pm tomorrow. Don drove all night, so after he gets some rest I think I'm going to take him over the the drop yard and let him practice backing as much as he wants. This evening, I think I'm going to have to find me some burnt ends for dinner. My usual Kansas City date isn't living here currently, so if any of the rest of ya are interested in getting some dinner - lemme know.
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 h let's see... where were we.
I finished up Alex's training and put him off the truck last Thursday before going home for the weekend. I have a new student named Don. He's 40 and from Flint, Michigan. He's a bit of a talker, so hopefully he doesn't take my generally quiet nature personally. So far he's doing okay; really rough on the shifting, but we'll iron that out in a couple of days. Otherwise, decent lane control and he's reasonably bright so I don't anticipate the Qualcomm or maps/directions/routing being any big deal for him. Hopefully I can get him up to speed in a week or so and begin putting down some miles again. Between Thomas, Alex and myself, the three weeks I was out prior to my home time, Sally saw 16,200 miles. I need some more of that.
Sally has been running great for the past couple of months. Her turbo is leaking oil, I get some compression in the cooling system, and she has some creature-comfort annoyances, but she takes everything I give her. She recently ticked past the 900,000 mile mark. Only 32 more weekly payments and she's all mine. Hopefully, if I can keep Sally stocked with quality students and roll like I have been, I can get her paid for sooner. I'll be so glad when I'm done with the lease. Maybe by this time next year I'll be able to give her a much deserved engine overhaul. Maybe by the first quarter of 2009 I can have an additional truck on the road and someone working for me.
My home time was relaxing and enjoyable. Of course, it's hard for it not to be when I have such good company as ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) welfy. In addition to puttering about the house in a manner that an old codger like me is supposed to, we went to a folk dancing class on Friday night and had my parents over for Sunday dinner. Also, I'm beginning to think I'll never get past "Freya" on Expert.
A dear friend of mine who I regrettably don't make enough effort keeping in touch with since she moved to the far-off land of Pennsylvania, has begun a LiveJournal. So now I have no excuse as long as she keeps writing. She's also good friends with aloneinky who I pimped on these pages a while back. The journal name is slhorsfield, and I'm sure she would appreciate having a few starter friends to get her in the swing of the social aspect of LJ. Take a peek and see if it's for you if you're in the market for a new friend.
While we're on the subject of livejournal.friends: tequilaprophet ... wtf? I hate to see the good ones give it up.
And now... some quick movie reviews:
 Cinderella Man (2005)
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti
A biopic about the astonishing, if brief, championship boxing career of James J. Braddock. Great story, an okay script and fantastic set/costumes (Depression era New York City, the estimated budget for the film is nearly $90 million), but, unfortunately the acting is stiff and contrived, even from Giamatti who has been known to steal the show with his character work (Private Parts, anyone?). How he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this role is beyond me. The real problem with this movie is the pacing, though. Howard has such a great set and props to work with that he lingers too much to show how pretty it is and many of the boxing scenes are too long, repetitive, and tedious.
 Dark Star (1974)
Director: John Carpenter
Writers: John Carpenter, Dan O'Bannon
A collaboration by two men who would make a considerable mark in the sci-fi/horror hybrid genre just a few years later. It's laughably low-budget (there's even a beach ball masquerading as an alien) and the acting is horrible. It is more of a comedy than a dramatic film and has its moments, but won't be of interest as anything more than a historical curiosity in their early careers. Starting in 1978, Carpenter would direct Halloween, Escape From New York, Christine, Starman and The Thing in a four year period and O'Bannon would write the screenplay for Ridley Scott's Alien in 1979.
 Unknown (2006)
Cast: Jesus Christ Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Joe Pantoliano, Barry Pepper, Peter Stormare, Chris Mulkey
First-time director Simon Brand and first-time screenplay writer Matthew Waynee get everything right and attract a small ensemble cast of quality character actors for a no-frills thriller worthy of being called Hitchcockian. The film has a unique premise: five men wake-up in an abandoned factory and can't remember who they are or how they got there. There are obvious signs of a previous power struggle: two of them have been restrained and one has been shot. The factory is locked-down by security doors and they can't get out. Over the next 98 minutes, the characters gradually regain pieces of their memory, while trying to escape. There is nothing spectacular about the script, but it is tight as is the editing. Little is wasted and it is compelling through the very last frame.
 Three Days Of The Condor (1975)
Director: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow, John Houseman
This often over-looked film yields some great performances and on-location filming in New York City. Without giving too much away, Redford is a bookworm for the CIA, code-named The Condor. When he unwittingly stumbles into a conspiracy within the agency, he has 72 hours to unravel it and try to stay alive. A film like this could easily sprawl and become a mess, but it stays tight and gripping (it was nominated for an Academy award in the Best Editing category). Redford is his usual charming, somewhat-fumbling self and Dunaway gives a decent turn as the obligatory eye candy. Houseman is on-screen far too little for my tastes, but von Sydow's supporting role is top notch. Probably not worth going out of your way, but if you're a fan of solid, gritty 70s-era cinema, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Not in the same league as All The President's Men or a weird, gem like Dog Day Afternoon but better than, say, Marathon Man.
( Other stuff I've been watching.... ) | |
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om surprised me and opted to get off the truck yesterday and fly home from Laredo, something about a limited window of opportunity for seeing his daughter this weekend and he wanted to be sure he was home for it. So I'm solo for the moment, but there's a good chance I could snag a new student in Dallas this afternoon since it looks like I'll be sitting here until this evening.
 s per my daily routine of late, I made the requisite phone calls to my real estate agent and the lending agent. We're trying to schedule a time for the closing this Friday afternoon. It was beginning to look like we were all set to stick a fork in this puppy then I get word today that no one seems to have the deed to the property. Um, what? This is a foreclosure property, being sold by the bank who holds the old mortgage. Why would they put a house on the market they don't even have the title for or not have taken the steps necessary to procure a new one before doing so? Grrrr. At the moment, it's unsure how long this will take with only 72 hours left to go 'til closing, I fear this is going to delay things. The question is how long?
h fine, have some gams; a display of ink from oberonia.
 his afternoon for lunch I had my first experience with Whataburger. Good stuff. As far as major regional burger joints go, this only leaves Fatburger on my list to try. Unless there's something I'm forgetting. I'll likely not get loaded until this evening, so I've been max'n and relax'n, listening to some Sonic Youth with Sally. I think I'll fire-up the DVD player and watch Seven Samurai, a long over-due complement to my viewing of The Magnificent Seven several weeks ago. | |
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hile being loaded at an apparel warehouse in El Paso, Jim and I walked across the street to Ernie's Cafe where I had the most superfluous plate of huevos rancheros. Once they've finished loading we're heading for Gallatin, TN which turns my trip map into one big circle. We should be there by tomorrow evening.
Gams! Gams! Gams! You want 'em, we got 'em! This photo comes to you courtesy of the lovely ladydreamfire.  I still want more. C'mon, SHOW US YOUR GAMS!
Finally, let's dust off ye olde comment stats meme. I haven't done it since March. Top Commenters on soopageek's LiveJournal(Of users in friends list)( 11-100 )
Total Commenters: 430 (330 not shown)
Total Comments: 14938
Report generated 7-6-2007 1:42:37 PM by scrapdog's LJ Comment Stats Wizard 1.7 | |
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 f you're driving through Arizona on I-10 this afternoon and see a candy-apple red truck pulling a big blue trailer, and the driver ain't got no clothes on... that would be me.
It's supposed to get to 115 today. According to XM, it's already 105. Lawd-a-mussy.
I'm getting a new student this afternoon in Phoenix. He only has 70 hours to complete, so he should be a breeze. Just teach him to use the Qualcomm and let him make money for me. This means I need to clean-up Sally this afternoon... in this heat. It's a bit of a wreck having had it to myself for the past month. Yesterday she got a bath and is all shiny on the outside... but the inside... hoooo boy.
I suppose with it being a holiday that there's a good chance I'll be sitting around until tomorrow. If that's the case, I might seriously consider investing in a motel room for the night. Poor Sally's A/C can't keep-up with this kind of heat.
I think I need to get a picture of Sally while she's clean and replace that icon I have of The Beast.
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 very time I head for Memphis I think of that song. It has such a great surprise ending. Chuck, you da man.
Pssst spssppp sspppp ssssp sspppp shhhhhh sppp spsssspppp.
I've decided that should I ever incorporate, the name of my trucking company will be We Transport Freight. Naturally, that'll be just so I can have the acronym stenciled on the cab of my truck door and write checks to my creditors from WTF, Inc.
Dave is still with me, for another week or two. It's 5am and he just went to bed after driving all night and I'm taking over for the day. We're bringing a load from Mitchell, SD down to Rossville, TN just outside Memphis. It doesn't have to be there until 11am Monday, but we shall arrive sometime early this afternoon. I've already checked with dispatch and they've informed that there's no other loads I can get for a split/swap, so we have to sit on this until Monday. Maybe Dave and I could split the cost of a car rental and go check out Beale Street or Graceland or something.
Yes, I'm back.
My bank sent me my new debit/check card. Which means I have to think of all the places online where it's used for automatic billing and/or saved for purchasing things and change the card number. Pain in my ass.
Marie is only six years old, information please
Try to put me through to her in Memphis, Tennessee
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 y current student, Dave, has decided to join the LiveJournal community. He's been writing and posting photos over at daveb78437 the past few days. I know some of you enjoy this sort of thing, especially since I haven't been very faithful about reporting from the road during my ongoing battle with LJ boredom. So, check it out if you're interested.
We're well rested from a weekend in Frankfort and back on the road. Last night, welfy and I took Dave on a driving tour of our fair burg and topped off the night with hot browns all around at Gibby's. We'll be back in ten days for what looks to be a busy and fun-filled weekend: Nashville Pussy on Friday the 4th, Derby festivities on the 5th, and talk of exploring an abandoned site on the 6th.
Tomorrow, though, begins another fun-filled experience... the return of SHOW US YOUR GAMS. And yes, I already have my pictures. You might want to stay away from your f-list tomorrow if you have sensitive eyes.
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n Friday morning I got a quick shower, packed the truck, checked out of the motel, and told dispatch I was ready for a load. I also called the student department to see if they have any available at the Omaha terminal. They did. His name is David and he's a young guy (28). He's a big dude, too. Like football big. He brought his laptop and Sprint internet aircard on the road with him for his training, so as you can imagine, we're getting along famously. He's from Maine, and with the exception of a couple of flights to Florida and California, he's never been out of New England. I love getting those guys. They remind me of me when I first began and I can re-live that feeling vicariously the first time we take a load to the west coast.
He's also doing really well, too. Due to a processing glitch he wasn't able to drive for the first time until Saturday afternoon, but from what little I've seen so far, he's going to be a breeze to train. I'll probably get to spend this next week like I'm on vacation, just riding around while he does most of the work, then I anticipate running pretty hard with him after Easter. We're currently rolling through Illinois farmland and headed for Shreveport, Loozeeanna.
Last night, after finally getting out of Chicagoland with our load, we stopped in the small town of Dwight for some dinner before making the trek down IL 47 through lossfound's old stomping grounds. As I was walking out of Arby's, I saw a pretty, silvery sunset in the overcast skies and decided to make an addition to the millions already painted and photographed.
 - Tags:training
- Music:you wanna kill the Klan shoot the fans at a tractor pull
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fter getting Sally fixed last week, I acquired a new student. His name is Sam and he's been around trucks most of his life, but never had a CDL until now. Werner only gave him 105 hours to do for training. He's a bit of a good ol'd boy from Delaware; a self-proclaimed, reformed hellraiser and loves NASCAR. Yee-haw. Put him in a wife-beater, sweat pants, and flip-flops and he could co-splay as Carl. He seems to be a nice enough of a guy though, just not someone I can relate to. All the really tacky clothing and crap they sell in truck stops? This is the guy that buys that shit.
With only 105 to do, I won't have him for very long. In fact I may not even have him for all of his meager training. Since leaving home today, I plan to stay on the road until Easter. Part of the plan is that, I'm going to get myself routed to the Omaha area by Monday for the sole purpose of getting Sally doctored-up at the McMullen shop. I'm going to have the alignment done, the windshields replaced, a water-pump replaced, and - drum roll please - a head gasket replaced. Yup, I'm getting oil in the water. Not a good sign. I talked with the mechanic at the McMullen shop and they can do all of that work except the alignment. Having them change the head gasket will save me a bundle over having it done at a dealer.
With all of that work that needs to be done, especially tearing down the motor for the head gasket, I'm likely to lose several days of work... at least. Which is fine, it's work I need done and I'm scheduling my time there in anticipation of it, but I'm sure Sam won't be interested in sitting for several days, especially after having just sat for 3 days in Frankfort while I was on home time. We're playing it by ear and if I'm only going to be down for a couple of days, he might wait it out with me. But honestly, I see this being at least 3-4 days of down time so I imagine he'll try and snag him a different trainer out of the Omaha terminal.
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he final week with LARM was a doozy. We left Frankfort, KY on Tuesday morning and were in Seattle by Thursday. By Sunday morning we were in Atlanta.
Coming out of the deep south and bound for New Jersey, the solenoid went bad in the transmission and I lost my low range of gears. Not a huge deal as I was highway driving, but not a lot of fun pulling a 42,000 pound load when I had to get off the interstate for a detour in Baltimore. I told dispatch I could take it as far as Allentown, PA but then they needed to find someone to finish taking it to the customer: there's no way I was going to try manuevering and backing that heavy of a load in the high-range reverse.
I got here around 06:00 and passed the trailer off to the driver who would finish the delivery then took a nap for a few hours. Earlier, LARM had been given approval to exit training and process out to get his own truck. We went for breakfast and I tidied up some of the loose ends of his training then I handed him over to the training department at the terminal. I was due for my annual review, which involved a good amount of routine corporate bullshit that tied me up for a couple of hours.
I had turned-in my repair request to the shop that morning but still hadn't heard anything. I checked with the shop foreman and was assured I was at the "top of the list". It was after 19:00 before they finally got the truck into the shop. They can't get the parts for it until tomorrow afternoon so here I sit. The good news is, it's a relatively cheap and quick fix. I'll be heading home this weekend, then plan to work until Easter. Over the course of those three weeks, I'm planning to spend some time in the Omaha area getting my windshields replaced as well as a water pump. Finally, I'm going to get the alignment done on Sally as well.
Lately I've been giving some serious consideration to ditching this lease agreement and purchasing a truck. I've considered a new one, but the thought of a 60 month or more term with payments much higher than what I have now doesn't sit well with me, even for the promise of less repair headaches for the next couple of years. This truck will be paid for in another year.
What irks me though is that by the time I'm done paying for the truck, I'll have paid nearly twice what it's worth. At first this didn't bother me, I've known this from the beginning. The reason I accepted this lease is because I was unsure if I even wanted to be an owner/operator, and the lease is pretty much no strings attached. If I want out, I just take them the truck back. I'm out the money I've paid every month, but I'm not stuck with a truck and loan. After doing it for nearly a year, despite the hassles involved, the independence which comes with it trumps. I've been pricing some used trucks at a dealership in Kansas City which offers 3yr/300k mile warranties on any trucks with under 425k miles, and they have several listed for around $50k.
A 36 month loan/lease agreement would be payments comparable to what I have now, for a truck that has half the miles (and presumably half the headaches) of Sally with a warranty to boot if anything major were to occur. I'm not sure that I can secure the financing necessary to do it, but I've submitted one application today just to see what happens. Cross your fingers and wish me luck.
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 ast night I met LARM for the first time at the terminal in Allentown. He was done with his orientation, but there was still the formality of him being released and assigned to my truck. Apparently, the n00bs finish orientation as a group and become eligible for getting onto trainer trucks. He took advantage of a free motel room for the night and I parked at the terminal until all of this came to pass.
I woke up this morning and there was still no message authorizing me to pick him up. I called student assignments and within a few minutes had permission to put him on the truck. I called him to let him know I was on my way. After getting him and making a quick trip to a local supermarket, we had trip information: loading in Gap, PA bound for Akron, OH. I opted for driving to the shipper and after loading, back out to the Tollroad. I don't like to throw too many things at the n00bs at once, and prefer for their first time behind the wheel to be open highway.
However, it wasn't ideal conditions. By this time, it was beginning to get dark. There were high winds and we were under a light load and snow was spitting from the gray skies. I stopped at a service plaza west of Harrisburg. We switched seats and I gave him a crash course on the cockpit guages and switches before letting him begin. Soon, we were snaking through the parking lot on our way to the on-ramp. While his shifting wasn't flawless, it was better than most as he climbed through the gears. He shifts a little fast, like you would a car, not allowing enough time for the RPM's to drop, so there's a little crunch as it goes into gear. I suspect he'll iron that out soon enough. He has good lane control, he's patient, and is conscious of his mirrors. These are basically the things I look for the first time a student drives. I can already tell that he's going to do well. On top of all of this, he's confident and not nervous, two qualities which can take days for some to achieve.
After dropping this load in Akron, we're picking up a load in Columbus and heading for California. I don't know if a split is planned or if they want us to take it all the way. It's not due there until Tuesday, but if I dont think we can make it there by Monday, I'll probably ask for a split: not getting there until Tuesday makes a tight timetable for being back home by next weekend. A lot depends on how well he's still doing by tomorrow. I'll re-evaluate it more and see how I feel about it, and how he feels about it before making a decision.
We spent the day talking about video games, music, and movies. Basically, we probably have nothing else to talk about now. We're getting a long great though. LARM has created a LiveJournal and wrote his first entry in it last night, complete with a self-portrait. This saves me the trouble of posting my usual first-day photograph. I thought some of you might be interested in seeing the entire ordeal from the student's perspective. He also hasn't seen much of the country, which might be interesting to read about as we make our first cross-country trip.
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think it's time I declare the Daily Log format a failure. I suspected from the start that I'd grow bored with it in time; that writing the same-shit different-place would bore me eventually. For those of you who enjoyed them, my apologies. For those of you who endured them but were too kind to opt-out of the filter, you're a better person than me. While I'm at it, I guess I should declare the Daily Photos a failure, as well. There's only so many ways you can take pictures of trucks in a parking lot every morning. I'll probably still post random collections of photos from the road from time to time, but I'm not going to try and routinize it.
ast night, dispatch sent me a message saying that, after my delivery this morning, I was clear to go to Allentown. But LARM won't be done with orientation until at least Thursday afternoon, maybe not until Friday. After completing the delivery this morning, I sent a message back to my dispatcher letting him know that I didn't relish the idea of sitting for two days. I've sat enough for the past month. They found me something that'll keep me busy through today at least, bumping around New Jersey: Millville, Newark, and North Bergen. It'll get me a couple hundred miles and some stop pay anyway.
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 've been busy.
Last Saturday I picked-up a new student in Allentown. His name is Clayton and he has been working in the trucking industry for a number of years, but he hasn't done over-the-road for the past several. So my company is putting him through the training program to knock a little of the rust off and to learn some of the company specific things concerning the Qualcomm. He only has to complete 140 hours, so he'll only be with me for about another week and a half.
Since he's already an experienced driver, we've been rolling non-stop. Since leaving home last Thursday, I've clocked nearly 7,000 miles. Sometime this week I'll see if I can get a photo of him.
The film Jarhead, starring Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenlhlhalhlhnnyllnhl Donnie Darko, is a film about the United States' liberation of Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, from American Beauty director Sam Mendes. The movie lasts twice as long as the actual combat operations and is only half as interesting.
 I'm wondering if any of you Central Kentucky locals like playing the game Risk? Y'know the old Hasbro board game? I have the PC CD-ROM of it that has LAN capability for game play and some wonderful BIG maps (140+ countries), as well as support for Capital Risk, Mission Risk, and an interesting variant called Ultimate Risk. I was thinking, that if there was enough interest, of cobbling together a LAN party and if it's a hit, doing it a few times a year. The ROM was made long before the days of security schemes and is easily copied so everyone could play and it runs really well on a laptop. Additionally, I have two extra machines in the house that people could use if they couldn't bring their own box/laptop, in addition to my own laptop, Welf's laptop, and a third laptop of questionable reliability that could be used in a pinch.
I was thinking it might make for a fun, if geeky, inauguration event for The Guy RoomTM. Since I've got a wireless router, non-smokers could play upstairs simultaneously with the smokers downstairs. It would be an all-day event, probably on a Saturday, so even if you live a few hours away it'd be worth the trip if you're interested. You could come play for a few hours or dig your trench and battle all day. There would be plenty of snacks, leading up to dinner which I'll cook for everyone. There's ample floor-space for crashing-on if it goes late into the night and/or heavy drinking ensues and The Drive Home becomes daunting. While the gaming will be the centerpiece, it'll be a chance to have fun, hangout, and be social. Up to 8 people can play simultaneously on the big maps, so there'll be plenty of time in between turns for goofing off and conversation. Foul-mouthed trash-talk will be expected... bitch.
Anyone game? Don't worry if you've never played or played little, and want to join in anyway. Since the game takes care of the tedious aspects of the classic board game (dice rolling, army calculation, etc), all that's left is moving your virtual pieces around and conquering the world!
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 oday I was thrown a curve ball when, with only 50 hours to go in training, Steve decided that over the road trucking wasn't for him and was getting off the truck in Aurora, renting a car, and driving home to South Dakota. Of course, this maintains the streak of me not training a single student from start to finish this year, for one reason or another.
don't do meme's very often but I'm a sucker for the ones dealing with music and film. I got this one from lucyshoe. She gave me the letter "G" and I have to name 10 songs which begins with that letter without using Google, etc. If you want to play, comment and I'll give you a letter.
"Great Balls of Fire" - Jerry Lee Lewis
"Gone Daddy Gone" - Violent Femmes
"Gloria" - Them
"Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" - Ramones
"Go, Motherfucker, Go" - Nashville Pussy
"Gangster's Paradise" - Coolio
"Green River" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
"Good Golly Miss Molly" - Little Richard
"Gin & Juice" - Snoop Dogg
"Gett Off" - Prince
Edit To Add: BONUS GAME - I'm going to come to your journals and try to do ten more songs for whatever letter I give you. Additionally, If you can come up with ten "G" songs, leave 'em in the comments here.
- Tags:meme, training
- Music:two in the mornin' and the party's still jumpin' 'cause my momma ain't home
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 he new week has started with a trip to the Big Apple. We drove all night and hit the GW Bridge at 8am. Lovely. We got our delivery over to JFK and I'm currently waiting to be loaded with my next one, heading for Houston by Friday morning. This is how I like to run. Steve has been progressing nicely and I should have him all finished in under three weeks. I think he's having reservations about it though. After watching me navigate the streets of Queens around JFK this morning, he said "I don't think I could ever do this."
There was a sincerity in his voice that couldn't be ignored. I tried to tell him that it's something that comes with experience, and that as a new driver, his dispatcher would not likely throw him to the proverbial wolves in a place like NYC until he had more experience under his belt, and that if he did, that he was an idiot.
'm nearing the end of my little legs festival, with only two photos to go. While I''ve loved each and every photo I've received, these two edged out all the others as my favorites. One thing that I've found interesting about the whole thing is the variation in presentation. Who knew there were so many different ways to do what was, on the surface, just a simple request; SHOW US YOUR GAMS. The photos began with my own humorous faux glamour shots, to candid, playful, cute, sexy, erotic, and everything in between. Today, we've come full circle. Today I give you the gams of tpbrcombo.
He can rock a skirt like nobody's bidness.
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  fter spending nearly an entire day doing virtually nothing in St. Louis, Steve and I picked up a load in Salem, Illinois bound for Laredo, Texas where it most likely is later headed for Mexico. Laredo is a bustling border town, that over the past decade or so has grown exponentially to accommodate the boom in shipping between the U.S. and our southern neighbor. Between the massive amount of shipping, the seediness of Nuevo Laredo on the other-side of the river (no doubt with a teeming red light district lined with $20 street hookers), and the pervasive presence of law enforcement of every stripe, it feels like Mos Eisley on Tatooine.
I feel like Han Solo, you're Chewie, she's Ben Kenobi, and we're in that fucked up bar!
Which reminds me, I need to go see Clerks II as well as Pirates in the very near future.
don't remember dreams very often which is always a source of envy for me for those of you who do. Yesterday, I slept for a few hours while Steve was driving and awoke from a very vivid dream involving friends in Omaha. Now, with the exception of meeting navygreen and her family a couple of months ago, I don't know anyone in the Omaha area. In the dream though, these were very good friends who I cared a lot for, and I was visiting them for the umpteenth time and there was a feeling of history and back story.
And when I woke up, I felt this huge feeling of loss. I wanted to know these people and for them to be real. Then I began pondering about my subconscious. Maybe I have this rich, alternate-reality life in my subconscious that I only visit when sleeping but I'd have no way of knowing since I don't remember them. Maybe we all do; only remembering the really bizarre parts of the dream because they're so foreign to this reality. This of course led to thinking about the nature of reality and that old chestnut, what is real? That whole Matrix notion of reality being a product of the mind. Is it any less real because it's only a dream? And what about psychotics? Schizophrenics? Maybe they have an ability to relate with the personalities and people of dream reality while awake, a la John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. Maybe they're not crazy, just wired differently.
ately, I've fallen out of love with LiveJournal. There's no particular reason that I can associate with this malaise so I'm attributing it to one of two things: either it's just a phase which I'll snap out of or it's just my typical time line for boredom with all things computer/internet, which is about 3-5 years. In the late 80's, it was local electronic BBS. In the early 90's, it was internet-based MUD games. In the late 90's, IRC and the early aughts it's been LiveJournal. I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon and I hope it's only a phase. My current internet obsession has become Conquer Club. Dork that I am, I even bought a premium membership for the low, low price of $20 annually so that I can play unlimited simultaneous games. I've always loved playing Risk, and lately that love has been intense, playing both at Conquer Club as well as a Risk CD-ROM I've owned and enjoyed for many, many years. I don't know if anyone else on my f-list is a Risk player, but if you are I highly recommend checking the site out. If you do and wanna play, send me a message and we'll play together.
've still got gams to share. These belong to shaden.
Barring any late submissions, I have my two favorite photos left to go. Look out!
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his morning I picked-up a new student in Omaha. His name is Steven, an older guy in his early 50's. He's been driving for about an hour now and is doing awesome. He's doing well on the open road driving and from what little I saw of his turning and shifting abilities when we took-off from the truckstop, I think he'll develop rather quickly. I'll try and grab a picture of him sometime over the weekend. He's fresh out of trucking school and doesn't plan to take his mid-training Paid Time Off, so I should have him for the duration of his training. I haven't done a complete training of anyone since Russell, and that was back around Halloween. We're making a short run to Kansas City this afternoon to drop a trailer, after which I'm sure we'll be on our way elsewhere.
n the home-front, the landlord finished installing the new carpet in the basement which means I was able to start putting things into The Guy Room. It needs a better name than that. The Lair? The Den O' Sin? Fortress of Solitude? Maybe something will seem more appropriate once it begins to acquire charm and character. Right now it's still rather bare. I put a futon in there, my groovy coffee table and The Big Ass Ashtray.  Welf took a snapshot of me enjoying my handiwork, although the lighting doesn't really do justice to the grooviness of the table.
oday's gams: the lovely and mysterious ninjalicious.
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 hen mxpwr and I got to Everett on Monday afternoon, we were informed by security that it would be at least 12 hours until our load was ready due to a machine failure in the plant. We were basically in his stomping grounds, so I told him that, since we were going to be stuck there until morning, if he wanted to have someone come pick him up and see some friends or whatever, that was cool with me. He began gathering things and after a while, he had all of it out. I looked at it and said, "You look like you're bailing out on me."
Unbeknownst to me, he had been reconsidering his decision to be an OTR truck driver for the past couple of days. There are some people who don't do well in this line of work for various reasons such as poor time management or they just never quite conquer the skills necessary to work efficiently enough to make a living at it. By and large, though, what sends most people packing is the lifestyle. For some, it's disingenuous claims from unethical recruiters. For some it's a denial of themselves; a blind eye turned to their domestic and social nature, by the lure of a decent income coupled with romantic notions about road life and travel. For some, despite going into it as wide-eyed as possible, the realities of the life are so far from the expectation that it's overwhelming. Regardless of the reason, this is why out of everyone who gets a CDL with the intention of being an OTR trucker, only 30% are still doing it one year later.
He conceded that he had come to the decision that maybe he was wrong about this being the life for him. So we said goodbye and he went home. I can't blame him, nor do I harbor any hard feelings. It is a very different way of living from the way most of the straight world lives: your home/social life is fragmented, there is no semblance of routine, and you eat/sleep/bathe when you can, not always when you want to.
The load was magically ready a couple of hours later. Funny how that happens.
ithout a student and prospects for one at the terminal in Portland slim, I worked with dispatch to get me out from under that load, since it was going to southern California and I have plans to be home this weekend. I swapped it with another truck operated by a team that could get it to Fullerton by 11pm the following evening on schedule, another incentive for the load planners to get me out from under it. I met them at a Safeway DC in Auburn, WA where they were due to unload at 5:30am. We swapped the trailers around 2am and I got a little rest before getting into and while sitting in the dock door. The planners had me another load lined up at the drop yard in Portland that was going to Ft. Smith, Arkansas by Friday. So I spent what hours I had left on Tuesday traversing Oregon, making it just to the Idaho border where I took the photo of the sun setting behind the motel.
On Wednesday morning I got up and hauled.ass. I'm still not sure how I did this, but I made it to Cheyenne in 10 hours and 45 minutes. Folks, that's 828 miles by my odometer which is an average of 77 mph. Pretty impressive considering the truck is governed at 75mph. Google maps lists it as a more conservative 789 miles, or an average of 73mph. Either way, that's damn good time in a 75mph truck. Sure, I took advantage of gravity going down the mountains up to as much as 85mph, but I also had to pull the opposing side as slow as 40mph sometimes. I also stopped three times, got caught in a small traffic snarl in Ogden, crossed 3 scales, and was slowed down by numerous construction zones. I definitely set a high mark in miles for an 11 hour driving period, and I still could've driven another 15 minutes and could've gotten away with an additional 15 minutes on top of that, without anyone at the Werner logs department saying boo about it. If I can repeat that phenomena tomorrow, I'll be within 100 miles of Ft. Smith when I shutdown for the day on Thursday. Unfortunately, I'm looking at a daytime crossing of Denver, which is never fun. It'd be nice if I could acquire a student at our terminal there in Denver, but I'm not holding my breath; I'm a day late on the last orientation class completing there.
 or one of my three stops during my 800 mile juggernaut, I had a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches at Mollie's Cafe in Snowville, Utah.
It had a lunch counter with stools in addition to booths and tables. The waitress used an adding machine that sat on the counter beside a huge plastic tub of Red Vines, because the cash register had busted and no one has bothered to fix it. There was a game room in the back filled with 15 year old video machines and the place was crammed with Coca-Cola memorabilia ranging from ancient, unopened bottles to old reach-in coolers and completed jigsaw puzzles turned into wall tapestry. Also on the walls were clocks made from cross-sections of trees with pictures of Elvis and Jesus shellac'ed onto them. In a word, it was swank.
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 Dear Chicago,
Hello, again. I haven't missed you, but at least I don't have to drive today. Be kind to Tim. This is his first big city to drive through. Talk about trial by fire.
Soopageek
Edit: 30 minutes (and counting) on the Dan Ryan is not what I had in mind. Maybe you'll make-up for that on the Edens? | |
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