Breaking Up is (not so) Hard to Do (and really hurts!)

I enjoyed spending the weekend with my baby boy who lives in upstate NY. It's always hard to leave him behind. 

I'd say it's time to get back to truckin' but it looks like I may be on  hiatus for a bit. Friday night right after I got in my hotel room I managed to break my hand. The two room "suite" had a little step up between the rooms and I managed to trip on it and my left hand slammed into the side of the door where it meets the frame effectively breaking the metacarpal just under the knuckle of my pinky finger. ER in Oswego gave it a temporary patch by wrapping it up and I have to get with a orthopedic doc now that I'm home. I've unwrapped it for the moment to give the poor skin some air. My hand is so swollen you can't even see any of my knuckles at all now. Can definitely say there are NO wrinkles on that hand at the moment. Driving the mini-van was interesting enough with it like this...can't imagine trying to drive the semi right now. If it had just been the finger itself it wouldn't be so bad...but any real pressure put on any of the fingers besides my thumb radiates to that bone and ouch!

So we'll see how long I'm looking at once I see the doc!

When I first got to the ER

After the ER wrapped it

Tonight after I got home

Hammer Down

While the weather wasn't the most pleasant yesterday...it still was not as bad as the freezing rain I endured a few days before. I got a short run yesterday since I wanted to be home today to prepare for my trip to see my baby boy today. So I picked up a load in Columbus going to Cleveland. Every week I carry something new and interesting it seems. This particular load I carried 3 industrial hammers and 3 attachments. The picture is not the ones I carried but it's a perfect example of what I was carrying.

Getting it loaded was interesting. Unfortunately their forklift could not get it far enough on to the bed to get it centered. They bumped it with the forks and it wouldn't move like that. So he had to use the very end of his forks to try to lift a bit and get it moved. No matter how hard he tried he could not get it centered. I finally said good enough when he managed to get it as close as he could. I'm not big on non-centered loads. I like even distribution of the weight. But it was what it was. Got them all on there and chained them down (and let me say...I hate using chains...I get covered in rust up and down). I felt that chains would be the best for holding down these particular items.

I got it to Cleveland no problem. When I pulled in they had one bay and a truck already in there. So I pulled off to the side where he'd be able to get out no problem. Unfortunately it also left me in an interesting position. The guy who handled receiving got all of it off with a forklift outside...except one. He needed to use the crane inside to get that one off. So now I had to back out on to the street and then try to back into their little fenced in yard (which included parking for the employees). 

I attempted to back in driver's side (which of course is the best because you get the best view) and could not get the swing in thanks to a car parked on that corner of the fence. So I eventually swung around the block to try to back in from the other direction (which was blind side...ugh!). It took some shuffling to get it in there and I got in enough just in time for a fire truck to come through. After it got past I was able to pull back out a bit and finally get the truck straight enough to back into the bay. I was thankful for the receiving guy for going out and stopping the loads of traffic and helping to direct me into the gate. I wish I'd remembered to get a picture of it to put up here. But while I struggled a bit to get it in there...I'm still proud of the accomplishment in getting it in there. 

I found it rather funny that he was like super grumpy with his employees...he kept shaking his head at their actions...but he was really nice and cool to me. I'm sure he was getting aggravated with how long it was taking me to get backed into the fence, but I'm not super trucker. I'm still learning the ins and outs of backing with a split axle. But it is the struggles that help me learn. I think what makes me take so long at backing is my fear of hitting something so I'm extra cautious when backing around corners.

Keep on trucking my friends!

Frozen to the Bone

Wow that was some nasty weather yesterday! I had to change clothes 3 times. I un-tarped, then I tarped...then I un-tarped and tarped again. All in freezing rain and sleet. Each time I finished thoroughly soaked. Even my big water proof Columbia couldn't stand up to the freezing rain and it too was soaked all the way through. As soon as I got my last load I found the nearest truck stop. I DEFINITELY took a hot shower last night...I had to counter the ice that had settled on my bones. I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a Mack truck. That cold just took every ounce of my energy and zapped it. I even slept through my alarm this morning from pure exhaustion. 

I am most definitely glad that today was much better. I got to untarp before that rain came in to Cleveland. And then when I went to pick up my next load I was fortunate enough to be at a place that the loading and strapping takes place inside! So indeed today was so much better than yesterday! Probably the worst thing I came across today was the traffic coming out of Cleveland. I often wonder...how does it get backed up like that when there isn't an accident? You get down the road and it finally opens up. But why was it slowed down like that to begin with?

Today is my baby boy's 17th birthday. Hard to believe my youngest is almost an adult! Where have the years gone? My babies aren't babies anymore. A few more days and I get to go see him! Yay! I can't help but to think back to when I met my late husband. Zack was 7 years old. It's hard to imagine that it's been 10 years already. So now I have a son who's a father x 3. A daughter who will be going to college next school year and a son who's just stepping a foot into adulthood.

So as I contemplate the passing years I'll leave you with this little tidbit -

"In a dream you are never eighty. " ~Anne Sexton

Big Wheel Keep On Turning

Yep...that was the state of one of my tires this week. Boss man says I'm driving the tires right off of it. Well I DO put a lot of miles under me even with the time spent tarping and strapping my loads. I blame the horrible roads in Michigan and Indiana for taking off some of the tread on my tire. Those are some rough roads! But this weekend the tire got replaced and the old girl got an oil change and lubed. 

There was some really nasty weather in the mid-west this last week. It worried me as they were calling for it to be pretty bad where I was (near Chicago). Fortunately it didn't hit the area as bad as expected. I did cancel my trip to upstate NY to see my baby boy though just in case. So now the plan is to go next weekend. My baby boy turns 17 this week!

And so tomorrow another work week begins. I head for the very tippy top of WV. 

So let me leave you with these words taken from this last weeks CSI: NY
"Today is life. 
The only life you're sure of. 
Make the most of today."
And indeed...it is. Today...is the first page of your book. It's up to you to fill the pages (yes...taken from the song "Unwritten"). 

So be good to each other. Love one another. And make the most of each day you have. 

Can't You See Me?

Not a whole lot of excitement this week...which I'd say is actually a good thing. Means things are going well and I'm not making any mistakes. The only thing of any real consideration this week was today. I was turning in an intersection and of course the turn light turned red as I was making my turn. So what does the idiot in the lane across from me do? Tries to take off while I'm right in front of him. Then of course his cousin idiot #2 next to him tried to do the same thing right after he did. Uh...HELLO?!? There is a big blue semi about 10 feet in front of you...did you manage to overlook that? The level of idiocy of some people on the roads still manage to amaze me. 

"Let me hurry up and pass this semi so I can make a turn to the left 1/4 mile up the road."

"Oh hey...let's slam on my brakes to turn at the last second with no turn signal...I'm sure that fully loaded semi behind me can stop that fast."

"Oh shit...I'm gonna miss my exit...let me do a quick dash across three lanes and 3 feet in front of that semi so I can get to it!"

"Damn the traffic is heavy! I'm on this on ramp and there's a semi right next to my SUV with traffic on the other side of it so it can't move over. I'll just force it out of my way."

So to finish up the night here's a funny: 

TGIF

Another week done and time to relax! I got my first paycheck today and I'm very pleased with it! It makes the hard work worth it. 

Was so very happy to head home. It was a rough week and was ready to sit back and chill out. The ride home got very interesting. Started out as a sunny day and drove right into a snow storm. I came close to pulling it off the road and calling it a day...it was coming down very heavy. But I just kept it slow and steady and made it home safe. Hard to see in the picture below but there is a car on the median that is upside down. Saw another that was way off the road on the other side of the ditch. But let's face it...there are a lot of foolish drivers out there who don't understand that slowing down can mean be safer.


So my friends...I'll leave it at that! Enjoy your weekend...I'll certainly enjoy mine!

Army Green

Today was a MUCH better day than yesterday. I didn't get stuck anywhere. I slept in for a change...I needed it after yesterday. And it felt damned good! LOL!

My goodness what a beautiful day it was today! And today's load that I picked up in Liberty, SC turned out to be an interesting one. I am carrying five military kitchen containers (or whatever you want to call them). Definitely not something I could crawl on top of to fix straps. I had to get the guy who loaded them to throw them over because my toss just didn't have enough oomph behind it! But he was really cool about it. He told me not to feel bad...he's had plenty of guy truckers who couldn't get them over either. And I got the straps so tight I might even have trouble undoing them. But hey...that's a good thing!

So I'm about two hours from the receiver. I had enough hours left to make it up there, but I decided to stop early so I'd actually be able to find a parking spot (as they start filling up around 6 pm). And I also didn't want to try parking in PA (where I'm going) since you aren't allowed to run your truck to keep warm when you're parked there. So I'll just get up early, fuel up and head on up. I waited to fuel in the morning because I wanted to hurry up and get a parking spot. And I got lucky again...another one that I could pretty much straight back in to. My favorite parking spots! Getting the hang of swinging these split axles is still a work in progress. Not to say I haven't gotten into parking spots that I couldn't straight back in to...it's just it takes me a little longer and few more tries to get it in (which can be frustrating for me and for other truckers that I'm holding up while I try to get in the spot). Having help from other truckers to get parked the other night was a very rare thing. Usually they all sit around watching you for their own amusement. Can't say I haven't been amused at the antics of other truckers before. Especially when it's a Swift truck (they get picked on all the time but there's a reason for that).

So I bid you adieu for tonight my friends. Stay safe and enjoy the beautiful weather!