There's No Place Like Home!

No...not home yet...but I will be tomorrow! Ah...sweet relief! It's been a long 4 weeks! So not used to being gone that long. But you do what you gotta do to make them dollars. I have some home repair plans in the works for those dollars.

A few days ago coming off the highway to a truck stop to get parked I had to go over a bridge that was under construction. Luckily I was going slow as I came around the corner because I saw a several of glowing eyes on the road. Once I got the headlights shining right on them what I saw was a mama raccoon and her two babies trying to cross the road on the bridge. Mama ran quick when she saw me heading in their direction but the babies froze right in my head lights. Poor things were terrified. I sat and waited for them but they were frozen still. So I started to inch towards them and that got them moving...they ran straight for their mama on the other side. Sorry...I'm a softie...I could not run over them just because they were in front of me.

So where have I been this week? Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.

I was in Chicago yesterday and today. And I absolutely just LOVE driving through Chicago (said no truck driver ever). Slow-ass traffic yesterday heading west through Chicago...slow-ass traffic today heating east through Chicago. Apparently today's was mainly as a result of some parade they were having there. Yes...driving through Chicago is one sure way to burn up some hours on your clock. While stuck in this snail-pace traffic I got quite a laugh at the van I saw in the next lane ahead of me. I really think he should consider getting the lettering on his van fixed. I'm not prone to call a business with a sign that says "Assmasters & Trim Inc."

 On my way through Indiana of course the clouds started to get a little angry looking ahead of me. So I had to pull out the old camera and take a quick click of what I was heading into. Can you say "Free Truck Wash?" Why yes...thank you! My truck is pretty clean now. There's still some of those nasty dried on, hard to clean off bug guts on the windshield but not nearly as many!

Time was short today. Hours were in the very low range. I think I argue with my dispatcher every single week about my available hours and where he thinks I can "trim" some time off my on-duty time to give me more time to get to the next stop. I'd had enough of that this morning and put my foot down. I've NEVER played with my log numbers before working here and I don't want to do it now. There's a really good reason I don't have any hour of service violations on my record with the DOT. It's because I DO NOT COOK MY BOOKS! I'm sure I pissed him off, but I don't really care. He's pissed me off every week with this "hours" argument. Having paper logs gives me a little wiggle room indeed (which of course the dispatchers think gives them wiggle room too)...but to blatantly falsify logs is not something I'm interested in doing. I pointed out to him too that he'd plan a 10-hr work day instead of taking a driver straight to the edge of their 11-hr every single day it's less likely a driver will run out of hours. But he wants to fill every single moment of that 11-hr clock. What is he gonna do with the 30-min break being mandated next week? That's 30 minutes he can't schedule us for! Oh my!

Finally make it to my destination and OMG! I can't believe some of the places that you are supposed to get your truck into! Why do they choose such places to put up a business? You kinda have to go into that poor residents front yard to get backed up into the docks here. Now keep in mind the panoramic view in the camera kind of distorts dimensions, but I think you can guess what I was up against being on a residential street that would be tight for even two trucks to get past each other. Some of my LEAST favorite places to go. I AM getting a little better backing in tight spaces...but I do still struggle with it some. 

So I'm outta here for now. Can't wait to get home and kick my feet up a bit. Gonna take my baby girl to see a movie this weekend too! I think we both deserve it.