First year OTR

[gmh]

Well, here it is late Thursday. I passed the kidney stone sometime last night. From roughly Friday last week at 11:59 until let's say Wednesday at 11:59. Any of you who have ever passed a stone (I think that was my seventh. First on the left) know that it wasn't a fun days. I discovered a valid use for urine bottles. I discovered that the back seat of a beat up police car, now a taxi, is more comfortable than an ambulance (although that might have been the Demerol) and... Surprisingly, the company was ok. I handled some stuff on the phone last Saturday. Had a message from my manager on Monday. Told them both I'd let them know ASAP when I'd be ready to get back in the truck. And they didn't bother me one bit (of course, they didn't check either, but that's okay in my book).

I started faxing in forms yesterday to get back on the road. Good thing I started early, as I needed another, and didn't get it until close of business today. It has been an incredibly expensive week (couldn't transflo my last load, missed several days of driving, hospital bills, prescriptions, etc) and my biggest concern is not with Crete, but rather with medicine. I used to work in medicine, my father is a doctor, and so I probably know more about the possible pitfalls than most. But I'm not gonna air it here.

So far, thumbs up for not bugging me about getting back to work. Minor thumbs down (very) for not checking in on me. I shoulda bugged them a bit, as I ran really low on fuel, and will need to get some at either this truckstop, or the TA across the street before picking up anything.

Oak Grove, MO Petro gets a thumbs up from me if you are going to be stuck for a few days. Nice people inside. Restaurant not too bad. WalMart and a few other things close by. Nothing to do, but the tv and internet reception were okay.

So, after a little break, let's see if I can get something decent to get a few miles over the weekend and make up for some lost time. Even this I won't complain about too much. I'm a little weak from a week of not eating and/or drinking right.

GH: I got the paperwork I needed very easily from Crete. It's actually only a one page form for the ex to fill out, and a one page form for the notary to fill out. Simple process, providing my ex doesn't use this as more leverage against me. I don't forsee Crete being a problem in this regard.

[headborg]

George you could sure use the Transflow Now Software- it comes in handy if
you have a scanner & laptop with internet connection--

of course, it's not as convenient as just walking into a Pilot or Love's and handing them the paperwork-- but, on Friday's when you can't get to a Transflow Location- it's worth it's weight in gold.

gladd to hear you're back up and kicking--

maybe when & if you get caught up-- you could be thinking about

Airhawk Seat Cushion-- and maybe some of those beaded seat back things--

and IcyHot Back patches-- and cranberry juice( regularly)

[gp12]

Glad to hear you're feeling better GMH! Now quit goofing off & get back to work!

[gmh]

Yup, finally moving around a bit. Seems I'm not getting my email replies on topics from here, so I keep forgetting to stop in. Hrm...

[gmh]

So I hustle some stuff down to Athens, GA. I swing by the Marietta terminal to fuel up and do some laundry (but now I've got clean clothes and stinky body). I hate parking in that place. Oh, and sorry that I almost (but didn't!) hit that reefer, but I'm f*****g trying. And instead of being rude and making faces, maybe you could have lent a hand? Seriously, there are some asses working at this company.

But also some cool people. When I walked up to the terminal with my laundry, I saw a guy I met back in Macungie. At the time, he was just getting back in the truck after some medical leave. We spoke a bit then, since we were both stuck there for a few days. And we caught up a bit. He asked me how training was, etc.

Wake up early enough on Monday to get to consignee before I285 traffic gets bad.

Did anyone know that the loop around Athens isn't a complete circle, but more like a horseshoe? And the consignee was near the open end? Even with three different sets of directions, I still had to fudge it. As usual, the load had an appointment time associated with it, but when I showed up, receiving says "Oh, yeah, drop it in that dock over there. Get an MT" Sigh. Well, hook up to an empty, send my mt call in (sorry evertruckerr, I can't bring myself to send an MT early And get sent to a town near Marietta. It's scheduled for 8:00 AM. It was already a quarter till. And I've got to go around ATL. Sigh. No breakfast for me.

I show up (directions actually good for a change) and... Find a mountain of crap. Okay, paper. This was a paper recycling plant. While not as foul smelling as a virgin paper mill, this wasn't anything great. Directions included a warning to slide tandems up as it's tight to get around. Yeah, no kidding. At some point, I had to drive through a storage building to get to the loading area. While cruising this funky facility, I notice a nice Pete behind me; one of the people leased on with Crete. Huh, two of us.

I get to the shipping area, and see three more Crete trucks ahead of me. Turns out at least six of us are here. We all got the bogus "8:00 load time" and we are all sitting, waiting in line. It's pretty windy, and I'm parked near an effluent pond. Downwind. Sigh. So the truck has to stay closed.

Eventually get loaded. Heavy. Fortunately, there's a scale on the way out. I eyeball the tandems and head for the scale. Which really only works in one direction with limited turn around space for multiple attempts. Fortunately, my guess was right, and I was on my way.

Minor direction problems slow me down a fair bit (trying to avoid 285. In retrospect, it may have been worth it) and I don't get as far as I wanted. I had hoped to make Kentucky, but only made it to Monteagle, TN.

What a skeevy little truckstop.

There should just barely be enough time to get the load today delivered. I wake up bright and early and bust my ass. All day. Take two breaks (these early days are killing me. I prefer starting a little later) and show up about 25 minutes late. Heck, all that work for nothing. Not so, they can fit me in, it'll just be a wait. Turned out not to be a long one.

Got my load offer. Awesome, picks up in this town tomorrow, and can be made to go through my home. I accept in a hurry. Error message. The offer was pulled off. I get a 2 load offer. Both pick up tonight, but I'm OOH for the day (well, I had one left, but that doesn't help) and tell dispatch. They give me back the original load offer. Hooray.

Now I just need to figure out if it's worth it to bust my butt to spend Wednesday night in my own bed.

Hell yeah it is.

[gmh]

Well, I woke up and dispatch must have figured out things were looking good for me, so changed my delivery from Richmond to Roanoke; no home time for me. Easy come, easy go.

Since then, I've had some trouble waking up in the morning, so nearly missed two delivery times (both were D&H, so the "get there now!" imperatives were pointless).

The most recent one delivered just a couple of miles from my home terminal. I hadn't been here since the first week of February, so I figured I'd stop in. Said hello, restocked paperwork...

And now I sit. For the first time ever, I'm sitting with a 'freight unavailable'.

Honestly, I can't complain. I've only got a few hours left, and a reset wouldn't hurt. At the very least, one to one and a half down days will help clear out the cruft and give me some hours. I'm due for an A service, and want to get well away from New Kingston before attempting that.

Reviewing my trip book and my odometer, it seems that I did about 10,000 miles in 4.5 weeks. Keep in mind that that includes six days of downtime while passing a kidney stone. So while evertruckerr and many others would be passing a brick, I'm kinda happy with my miles so far. It's enough to get some money, but not so much that I'm killing myself. Frankly, I'm not super interested in working my ass off so that my ex wife can get more. (As an aside, especially to golfhobo, she refused to sign the waiver to let my son ride with me. I've taken the downtime today to try to contact my lawyer to force the issue.)

I did clear up one issue that I've seen on the board: Crete is still hiring. They are just 'tightening up their standards', whatever that means.

[headborg]

OK, so I shamelessly bump this one back to the top......

where's the author.. to keep the light on? Hey, George? where you at---
how's it going?