Great Expectations

It was 1:30 this morning when I arrived at the TA truck stop in Green Castle, Pennsylvania to shut down for the night. Yesterday I worked until 3:30 in the morning before taking my well deserved night's repose at the Pilot in Rising Fawn, Georgia. If I can mange to get myself through this crazy snow storm going on up here in the North East and over to the TA near Southington, Connecticut today my plan is to arrive at Yarde Metals in Southington on Tuesday morning around 5:30 am and get the four bundles that belong to them off of my truck and then move on over to Stanley Access Technologies in Farmington to get the rest of this load delivered.

I picked this load up late Saturday afternoon with them expecting it to be delivered on Monday – not gonna happen! I do all I can, and they recognize that, with much gratitude I should add. But they really know they have to get this load ready on Friday if they want it there on Monday, especially when the snow is close to three feet deep on the ground and still falling. They still let you know what they are expecting, and the best way to handle it is to do your best and keep communicating with them your progress along the way. When I sent in my message this morning telling them of my plan to deliver first thing Tuesday, they said that sounds great, it looks like you will still be one day ahead of the driver that left for the same destination several hours ahead of you. They know that I am pushing it with all I can while focusing on being efficient, but not at the expense of safety.

There is a balance that must be exercised with each trip you make in this business, and to err on the side of being safe should always trump the enticement of taking greater risks for a greater reward. When those two things are in balance, not only can you make a good solid living at this, but you will continue to be entrusted with the better loads that keep your wheels turning and your balance sheet in the black. There are new variables with each trip, and a vigilant response in making the calculations needed for success is critical to keeping the balance in your favor. One bad accident can ruin a career, or worse, even take someone's life.

Here is what this load looks like. In this photo I am parked at Rising Fawn, Georgia – isn't that a nice name for a town? Can you see how dirty my truck looks down on the lower parts along the side? That is the salt from the roads that I picked up last week when I was in Connecticut and Massachusetts. That stuff gets everywhere – it is in my clothes, and my truck, and even some of my winter gloves are now really stiff from soaking up the moisture with that salt in it when I was wearing them to do things like fold my tarps. The other day I reached up to kind of wipe my lips with one of my hands and it tasted very salty.

I will be back in here in a few days to let you know how things went for me. I'm planning on picking up a back haul load out of Cressona, Pennsylvania again just like I did last week.