Days eight and nine

I'll probably end this thread with one more post after this one. I hope those of you following it have enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed sharing it with you. My purpose was to give you a taste of what it really is like living on the road. And sure enough we've gotten to see good days, bad days, frustrations and successes. That's pretty much how each week in a truck drivers life goes, and if you noticed the same things are happening in Daniel's thread. There are always ups and downs in this business. The main thing to being successful at this is being able to be steady in an ever changing environment while continuing to conduct yourself in a professional reliable manner that your dispatcher can always depend on.

Ok, I'm getting sidetracked - I'm putting days 8 & 9 together here because they mostly consist of pleasant weather and driving.

As I was drifting off to sleep in Oakfield New York around 1:30 in the morning, I realized that I was very close to Brett's little farm. I imagined him waking up in a few hours and throwing some more logs in the wood burning stove, sitting down in front of his computer with a friendly dog lying at his feet, and working away at some project or idea he has in his mind for this web site. Just wanted to say thanks to you Brett, we all sincerely appreciate what you've done to help us break into the industry, and it's nice to know that you've still got a long list of "to do" projects going on in the recesses of that cranial cavity of yours!

Day 8 We got up and got going before the sun was up and had beautiful weather all day. We traveled from Oakfield New York to Pendleton Kentucky where we settled in for a nice night at a Pilot truck stop. We ate New England Clam chowder that had been cooking in the crock pot while we were driving the last leg of the days journey. We threw some crab meat in the pot that we had picked up at Wal-mart on our earlier grocery trip. The smell was tantalizing as we traveled, and the meal was very satisfying at the end of our day.

Day 9 We need to get to Bridgeport Alabama before 1400 today, and we should be able to do it. Something just doesn't seem right when I wake up. I don't hear the interstate noise, I instead hear the sound of lots of big trucks moving slowly in low gear. After checking things out we find that the interstate has been closed due to an early morning accident involving a truck load of pigs! A detour has been established and lots of big trucks are rolling slowly by the truck stop onto a scenic byway that goes right by our truck stop. Once we get rolling it takes so long for us to get through the detour and back onto our regular route that I'm running calculations in my head about my delivery time frame and realize that there's no way I'm going to make it now. I pull over at a rest area and message my DM explaining the situation. He agrees with my assessment and tells me I can get unloaded Friday morning.

We get ourselves down close to the destination and settle in at a truck stop that's about thirty minutes away from our destination. I always try my best to meet the demands of the schedule they give me, or even do better, that's how you make more money in this crazy job than the many folks that just don't seem to get it. But, there will always be things that pop up that are beyond your control. You do your best to be consistent and reliable, but don't let the things you can't control get to you. If you let those uncontrollable variables start unsettling you you're going to quit enjoying what you do, and once you no longer enjoy this the more those uncontrollable variables start to control you.

My daughter had a job interview just before we embarked on this little journey together, and today she got a call from the prospective employer that they want her to come back in for a follow-up interview. So, I will have to figure out how to get her back to Texas before I wanted to. Man, I'm gonna miss her. She has not only been very pleasant company, but a huge help to me also while travelling together. I put in a special request to my DM to see if he could find a way to route me to Texas - hopefully I'll know something in a few days.

We'll get this paper unloaded in the morning, and then we'll tell you what our next load assignment is. I'll probably end this thread there and try to get back in the mode of responding to the many new questions that keep popping up in the forum. I've been kind of MIA while working on this little documentary, and the forums been hopping. Sorry Brett, I've noticed you've been working overtime this week, but you've sure been giving some good advice!

Good night!