A Time For Learning

Okay, I have been away from the internet for about a week now.  I was at home for my daughter's wedding, and the various preparations thereof.  I do have a real life, and some very real people whom I cherish, outside of my trucking acquaintances.  I was quite surprised by this little tempest in a teacup that is going on here in the recent comments on my last post.

Now, let me say that I really don't consider myself any sort of a teacher, but I do share my experiences and the things I learn from a life on the road.  Some folks seem to learn from them, while others have even claimed to be inspired by my drivel, which always amazes me.  All of a sudden we have someone here who has made some unusual claims of my willingness to act in a criminal like manner, when I was merely trying to illustrate how there are "grey areas" in trucking, and you will need to be prepared to deal with them.  I gave you all one of my recent experiences and how I chose to deal with it, and I even made this statement in that post...

"The last thing you want to be doing is sneaking around all the time hoping that you don't get caught, but you also don't want to waste your time sitting and waiting for someone else to come up with a solution."

I have always been willing to learn from others, especially those who are more experienced than me. One thing I learned from all of my years in the sign business is that there were often times when I would learn something from a totally new employee who just happened to look at an issue from a different perspective.  It is easy to get yourself locked into some sort of tunnel vision when you've been doing something for a long time.

So.... I am offering for Mr. Unknown a chance to tell us how he would have solved the same dilemma without breaking the law.  I am giving you the floor, so please make it good sir!

Oh, by the way, I need to admit to a mistake I made in the post.  When I stated it was almost two hundred miles to the place I scaled at in Arizona, I was pulling numbers from my memory without double checking them.  It was actually about 140 miles - sorry about that.

Also let's keep in mind that I was headed East, going to Texas with that load.  Mr. Unknown derides me with some degree of bravado and declares this...

"I was especially unimpressed with your claim of "a couple of hundred miles to a truck stop with scales" when it took me all of 2 minutes to find cat scales 78 mile east of Tecate on I8 at the Super Stop Travel Center. But maybe you didn't drive past that as you were "sneaking past the scales as they were closed."

Well sir, you are correct on one account, and that is that I didn't drive past that truck stop.  The reason I didn't is because it is not East of Tecate, but rather it is West, which would have put me 156 miles out of route.  A minor mistake for you I'm sure, but I'm confident you can do better with the free explanation of how to handle just such a situation that I am allowing you to give us.  And for the record, there is nothing illegal or even unsavory about driving past a scale house when it is closed.  I certainly would have pulled in and taken my punishment if they had been open, but only a fool would intentionally try to get himself a ticket after a shipper lied to him about the weight they were loading him with, which is why I chose to pass those scales in the middle of the night.

I am leaving your rude and arrogant sexist remarks to my friend Annemarie because they are indicative of your character, which you don't seem to mind exposing online.  You may take them down if you like, or I will do that little task later after we've given others the chance to think about your remarks.

Please sir, we await your expertise on how to handle just such a situation as I found myself in...