Blizzards Don't Last Forever

Everything worked out well, and it was definitely the right decision to go ahead and quit for the day in Connecticut before heading North East into Massachusetts. When I woke up the snow had stopped falling, and I decided that if I waited until about six or seven o'clock to leave I would have good light, and more than likely the interstates would be in much better shape due to the time the snow plows had during the night to work on them. Indeed my trip to Lawrence was fairly uneventful. There were the remaining cars and trucks from the previous evenings accidents buried in snow embankments here and there, but everything went well for me.

One of the reasons I went ahead and stopped yesterday is because I had unloaded 47,000 pounds off of my trailer, and now only had around 1,000 pounds left for my final destination. As strange as it may seem, when these big trucks are loaded heavy they are easier to operate in the snow and ice. When you are traveling with a light load you will tend to lose your traction and slip and slide more on the ice. Several times yesterday as I was making my way to Massachusetts my drive axle spun on the ice, usually this happened on the on-ramps to the highway where we were at a slight incline and I was trying to get up a little speed to get into the flow of the highway traffic.

After making my delivery yesterday, it was around 11:00 and I was wanting to take a break and get something to eat. Well, remember how I told you that there is limited parking for trucks in the North East? I have a little pocket sized booklet that lists parking areas all across the country for trucks – there are also some smart phone apps with this type information, and I use all of this stuff to assist me in my daily challenges out here on the road. So I did some quick research and found one of what these North Easterners call “service areas” about thirty miles away. These service areas are similar to what most of us know as “rest areas” only they are much nicer facilities that almost always include a convenience store, a gas station, and usually several restaurants inside the building. They really are nice, but a terrible expense of tax payer monies in my Southern conservative political opinion.

As I made my way over there to take a break, my dispatcher called and said he wanted me to head on down to Cressona, Pennsylvania and they would be working on trying to arrange a back haul load out of the SAPA plant there. He was a little aggravated that they had told him the earliest they could get me a load would be four o'clock the next day. He thought I would be disappointed with having to wait all day on a load, and while that is one of the things that hurts a drivers pay, what he didn't realize is that by the time I would get to Cressona I would only have about an hour and a half of legal working hours left to me for the next day. So, I suggested that I go ahead and take a 34 hour break at Cressona, and then my seventy hour clock would be reset so I can keep up a competitive pace on the next week's work load.

This guy cracks me up sometimes at how amazed he acts over my intelligence. He went on and on about how great an idea that was, and how it would allow them time to find me a better load out of Cressona.  Well, I just commented that it wasn't that smart, any dummy could figure out when they are out of hours and can't work any more. To which he laughed out loud and declared “Oh no they can't!"  These dispatchers are really big time babysitters for a bunch of whiny griping truck drivers, who cause them a lot of extra stress by doing things like accepting a load, and then not being able to complete it because they can't understand the rules and regulations under which we have to comply. It is a job that I would not care to do, but my dispatchers have always seemed to appreciate my approach to the job.

When I awoke in Southington, Connecticut it was 8 degrees and it only got colder as I made my way to Lawrence, Massachusetts. The snow got deeper the further north I went, but the interstates were in good shape. The only difficult road was the final road I turned onto to get to my destination. The very deep snow had been plowed away, but there was still a thick later of ice on the road which had not been salted. Here's what it looked like:

I also took a few shots of the snow at the service area where I stopped for a break. I had to walk between a short wall of snow and my truck when I parked and got out.

It is Wednesday morning here in Cressona as I'm posting this, and I'm about to step outside and see how the weather is. This is a great little town for walking and exploring. So, I shall just enjoy my little break here and get myself all recharged and ready to “go forth and conquer” what ever I'm faced with for the next week.