Black clouds and silver linings.

Black clouds and silver linings: that is the name of the new Dream Theater cd and pretty much describes my day today. This was a day where the electronic log bit me in the ass but saved it later.

I'll explain. 8AM I drive a mile to the consignee in Siloam Springs, AR. I drive on the line 5 off duty option to keep my 14 hours from starting. I knew I was gonna need all of them because my next load had THREE STOPS before it went to the customer. This is only the second time I have had a 3 stop pick up. i had a feeling it was gonna be a loooong day. Anyways I back into the dock and the forklift guy acted like he was getting ready to start. I only had ten large tanks so I knew it wouldn't take long so I started my duty status. After a half an hour I went off duty because they hadn't started unloading me yet. But the damage was done and my 14 was starting.

It was at this time that I told the temp dispatcher (since mine went on vacation) that I wanted in on saturday because I had family visiting. Even if it was a ten hour break. I get a nasty note saying that when I came back to the yard (which was today) that I will probably be stuck until sunday due to slow freight. That was supposed to scare me and I replied with, "I have some vacation time I can claim some vacation time so it's no big deal." An hour later I was told that suddenly frieght has picked up and I might have something when I deliver at home base. Grrrrr.

Meanwhile back at the ranch I am finally unloaded. I deadhead to what I thought was my 1st stop 70 miles away in Alma. All three stops are from different facilities from the same company. I am told that the order I had the stops in was wrong and I had to start 10 more miles away in Mullberry for the first stop. Each stop it took forever to find some one that knew something about anything. Then each place was a challenge to bump dock. At one point I was doing a uturn in a farmer's field. another time found me crossing us 71 backwards to dock with a blind hill on one side of me. each stop they hand loaded this stuff. On the last stop I had my bills and was ready to go when one of the dock workers came running out. he stopped me because he had lost his wallet in my trailer. So they had to practically unload it to get his wallet. As he thanked me i showed him the miracle of a chain wallet.

So now my patience is low I have three hours to drive to springfield and only 6 hours left of my 14! Normally in a log book I can "adjust" times to make my 14 start later since I have only driven 70 miles. But because of the elogs I can't do that. BUT......Then I get a beep over the qualcomm. It stated, "We have a load that will be ready at 22:00 and it needs to be in council Bluffs, Iowa tomorrow 6am. Can you do it?" This would mean I would have to adjust the book and drive all night. No way. But with the elogs I couldn't do that anyway. yay. Not my fault.

So I roll into the yard and I got to see my sister I haven't seen in years when I got home tonight. So there it is. if you have read this far I salute you and apologize for the length. Bottom line the elog worked against me all day, but then saved me from a long tired night drive that may have been dangerous. So just like everything else in trucking it's a love hate relationship.

BTW the new Dream Theater rocks.