Father's Day... On the Road

It's kind of strange how this job affects you.  While switching back and forth from working nights and days I often lose track of which day of the week it is, and I seriously did not even realize that today was Father's Day until I logged on to Trucking Truth today and saw a Father's Day greeting to all the fathers out there on the road today.  I hope I can manage to not forget my wife's birthday or something else important like that!  I drove through the night several nights this week, and had some considerable success "getting er done" in the face of some difficult odds.  I got a call from my dispatcher telling me that the guys at SAPA had noticed and commented on how well I did on an almost impossible load they gave me.  The problem with being a top performer in this business is that they start to give you all the difficult stuff, because you have built the reputation of "taking care of your business".  I'm not complaining, it actually is a good thing to be considered as the "go to" guy, but it also can really put the pressure on you at times.  I've always worked well under pressure, and continue to do so, but I don't run illegally and they respect that around here.

I had a load with three stops on it in the North Eastern regions of the country.  The first stop was in Riverdale, New Jersey, with the next stop being Farmington, Connecticut, followed by the final one in Avon, New York.  It was an almost impossible scenario to make all three on time, but I somehow managed to drive all night for two nights, avoiding traffic delays while juggling my hours around to make it all work out legally and on time.  They were very impressed, and said that I had set the new standard for that run.  I told them that I wouldn't count on anyone going by that new standard, because it wasn't easily accomplished.

The crazy thing about this whole run was that I told my dispatcher I could do it and that I would be ready for a back haul load first thing Friday morning.  He asked me twice if I was sure about that, and I answered him affirmatively.  He said okay, I'll let the planning department know when you will be ready.  My whole purpose in going out of my way to be done by Friday morning was that if you are not ready until Friday afternoon you will more than likely be sitting all weekend waiting for them to get you a load for Monday morning.  Friday afternoon loads are as scarce as hen's teeth because they have already been taken up by planners trying to have a load for their drivers over the weekend. Therefore you are wasting your time and theirs when you could have been rolling (which is the only time you are getting paid in this job) through the weekend.  If you waited until the afternoon to get yourself empty on a Friday you have usually shot yourself in the foot - it is a sign of poor planning on the drivers part.

After sending in my "empty call" at seven in the morning I fully expected to see my next load appear on my computer screen... nothing but cricket sounds... okay, what is going on?  I finally get a message from my irate dispatcher telling me that the planners didn't believe me when I said I would be ready Friday morning, and therefore they had not gotten me a load!  He was very upset, and told me he had a discussion with them and reminded them that I always do what I say, and this is on them. He was not going to make me sit there and not get paid, so they had better come up with something or else he was going to have me dead-heading back to Delhi.  This is critical in our fleet that they have our back-haul loads ready to go because we are a special fleet dedicated to serving the needs of that SAPA plant in Delhi, Louisiana.  So, I am running empty for the 1200 miles back to the plant - someone is going to be in trouble for this, but it's not me.

That customer in Avon, New York is a very old company called Star Headlight & Lantern Company. They were established in 1889.  It is still a vibrant company, but they have adapted through the years, as you can imagine.  They started out making the lights for miner's helmets, and other types of lights and lanterns - this all before the days of the automobile or the wide spread use of electricity.  They are now one of the leaders in making the emergency lights for police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles.  Here is a shot of an old train car that they use as the sign for their factory.

Here's a look at a light fixture on the front of the train car that will give you an idea of the kind of stuff they made back in the early days of the company.

I think it's interesting, or else I wouldn't be sharing it with you.  You may think I'm silly, but I find all this stuff interesting as I make my way across the country serving my various customers.

For my return trip I ran across a portion of upstate New York that is known as the Chautauqua Wine Trail.  This is highway 20, and it passes through thousands of acres of vineyards that have been there for long generations from the early immigrants to that area who brought their wine making skills and traditions with them to the "new" land.  It is a lovely area with old towns and homes all along the way.  I wish I had time to stop and photograph much of what I see so I could share it with you, but I am trying to work and be successful at this job, and I don't have much spare time to be putting effort into this blog.  I did stop and take one shot of a vineyard near "Fredonia" New York.  I couldn't resist since the town was named "Fredonia"... a word that has special meaning to an East Texan like me.

The Chautauqua Wine Trail is a small two lane highway that every time I've been on it has a car club or a motorcycle club cruising down it enjoying the scenery and stopping at all the various "wine tasting" stops along the way.  I always try to be real careful when travelling through there as I never know just how many "tastings" the other motorists have been to that day!