I'm Back!!! As the spirit would say

So sorry for the long absence. Last week was a LONG week, and I didn't have much time for anything much less blogging. Sleep was even on the short list. :-) Anyway, to fill you in, I started out Monday around 10AM for the yard. I was going to Phoenix, AZ for a 7PM delivery to Amazon.com. Made it as far as Indio before I has a blow out on an inside drive tire. F@#$. So, limp into a TA truck stop and arrange to buy a couple of tires. If one tire is really worn, and you put a new tire next to it on a dual setup, the new tire will wear out twice as fast, so it is advisable to replace both tires, so that is what I did, and strapped the old drive tire to the back of the cab. It can be used as a trailer tire when needed. So, that took an hour and a half, and suddenly, I was in jeopardy of missing my appointment at Amazon. You do not want to miss an appointment with them, as it takes four days for another appointment. Management would not be happy about that. :-) They give you 30 min leeway, so that helped. I made it at 7:18. Unfortunately I didn't get unloaded until 11PM. Part of the problem was a muslim, who was evidently a new driver, that couldn't park his trailer at the dock. He hit one trailer next to him, and had it so jacked in between that trailer and mine, he couldn't get it out, or backed in. He was asking guys for help, and unfortunately came to me. I have a hard time not helping when asked, and went to asses the situation. Ended up having to drop the trailer where it was, and back into it at a different angle on the tractor to be able to get it backed in without hitting anything else. I think the whole warehouse was out there after he hit the trailer, and that delayed everything for an hour or more. After I got unloaded I went to drop a trailer at another mfg'er to have them load. But the place was all locked up and had to wait till morning. Had a hard time finding the docks, the place was huge and they were all the way around the back of the building through a parking lot. Who designed this place??? Anyway, got it all figured out with the shipper, dropped the trailer, and as I was pulling out onto the street got a call that the order had been cancelled and had to hook up to the trailer and pull it out. Went to another place and picked up and order, then took that trailer to our Phoenix yard, dropped it, hooked up to a load for Wal-Mart, and delivered that. Afterward, I went back to the yard, dropped the empty, hooked back up to the trailer I had loaded before and headed back home. About half way back, got a call that there was a hot load for Yuma, that needed to be delivered by 7:30AM the next morning (Wed). Crap, by the time I get back to they yard, drop this trailer, pick up the Yuma trailer, do all the required paperwork, and get out of the yard, I have an hour and a half of available time to work. So, I stretch things a bit and get to Salton City and crash for 4 hours, get up and finish to Yuma. This was another fiasco. The address I have, the GPS is telling me to turn on a little dirt road next to a water canal in the middle of some agriculture area. This thing was about 8ft wide and was essentially a dike holding the water in with a dirt path. No WAY am I driving on that!! I call the customer, and leave a message. Fortunately he called me right back, and gave me directions to the place. The bad part was, they wanted the stuff delivered to a warehouse about 13 miles back the way I had come. Finally got that delivered, and headed back. I got about halfway back from Yuma, and dispatch called again. A load to Washington. Crap. It is Wednesday afternoon. Now, there is no way I can get home before Saturday night, Sunday. That is if I leave Wed. afternoon. Here we go again. So, instead of going home and getting some sleep, I head out for WA. Such is the life of a long haul truck driver. I will finish this off later. Right now, I have some stuff to take care of before I get called out again.

Larry