Providence, And the Blessing of Having A Job That You Really Enjoy

I drove all through the night beginning at 7:15 pm, and arrived in Delhi this morning, with five minutes to spare on my legal driving hours! Some days it just seems like everything falls in place for me. I am always grateful to God for all the help I seem to experience in this new career.

It really turned out well to go ahead and get myself on down here because with the load assignment I received today it will give me enough time off to take a 34 hour break which re-sets my seventy hour clock so that I won't have to be dealing with those re-cap hours I mentioned in that last post. That frees me up to make some really good progress on this next load which has three stops in the North East parts of the country. My first stop will be to a new customer in Buffalo, New York, followed by a frequent customer we have in Riverdale, New Jersey, and then on from there to a customer, new to me, that is in Charlestown, New Hampshire.

My load won't be ready until tomorrow, and at five o'clock tomorrow evening I will have completed my 34 hour break. I will still have to drive the night shift for two or three nights to make sure I deliver this load on time, but after a nice rest I will be completely prepared and ready for the challenge.

It is about 3:30 in the afternoon as I'm writing this, and I have just finished doing some grocery shopping to restock my supplies. I went ahead and purchased the ingredients to make another pot of black bean soup. It came out really good last time, and it just sounds nice to me for that trek back up there into the snow bound North East corner of the country. I was also out of fresh fruit, so I picked up some apples and tangerines – they make a nice refreshing snack on the road, and compared to most truck drivers who snack on chips and soda, at least I will feel like I'm making some effort at eating a healthy diet while on the road. It is so easy to fall into some unhealthy eating habits while living on the road, but with a little effort you don't have to be the typical overweight truck driver with hyper tension, and poor circulation.

My friend Paul Anderson is also in Delhi today, so we are going to enjoy a meal together tonight. He is the person who initially asked me if I would come over here and give this new job a try. I became acquainted with him through my work at TruckingTruth.com, and I seriously think it was Providential that we met, and he put in a good word for me over here. So far, I am the only person they have hired that didn't really live in their hiring area. They were saying that they were going to expand it into some of the freight lanes where they deliver to, but they have yet to do that. The reason they decided to accept me was because Bright Coop's trailer manufacturing company “Viking” (in Nacogdoches) is a customer of SAPA's, but I have yet to ever even deliver anything to them, and have very seldom even been put on any of the loads going to Texas.

My dispatcher told me this morning that he's been using me as an example when showing other drivers who are complaining about not making enough money, how you succeed at this stuff. He told me he sits them down at his computer and brings up a page that shows my trips and the timely manner in which I get them done. He then said that he really enjoys working with me, and stuck out his hand to shake mine with a big grin on his face and said, “I thank God every day, that Paul Anderson told me I should hire you – it is a pleasure working with you.” I really enjoy working with this guy, and he does incredible favors for me because he appreciates the way I soldier on through what ever problems arise on each load.

He often does what he did this morning when he called me about my load, which is, instead of just telling me what he wants me to do, he will read off to me from the nine or ten loads he has available for the next few days and will simply ask me, "Which one would you like to do?"   Anyone not familiar with this industry does not realize how highly unusual that is.  Most companies operate on what is called “forced dispatch”- which simply means they will tell you what they need you to do, and you just have to accept it. Usually they are trying to accommodate drivers current locations and get them something close to where they are at. Here, since we are dedicated to running loads out of this plant in Delhi, we are almost always originating our loads from this location. Because of that, the drivers who are continually producing good results are often given their choice of the loads available because the dispatcher is confident in their ability to “get er done.” Therefore if you happen to be available for your next load first thing in the morning as I was today, you will be given the best choice of loads.

Well, I need to start getting myself ready to go meet my friend Paul for supper. I will do my best to keep you informed as to how this load is going for me at some point in the next few days.