Would you like fries?

Last week was one of those weeks where I contemplated going back to welding or flipping burgers.

Sunday I left early in the morning heading to Carlisle, PA for a Tuesday 17:00 appointment hauling flavored coffee in a can. I drove around 600 miles and then called it a day. This is when the week took a dive. I was in the bunk half asleep watching tv when I heard on the cb radio "Wow that guy is gonna HIT THAT TRUCK!" I look out and it was MY TRUCK THAT WAS ABOUT TO GET HIT! I laid on my horn, put my shoes on, and got outside. There was a truck trying to back in the spot next to me. The guy in a panic gets on the gas making the trailer lean and that when he "rubbed" my mirror. I yelled stop! At this point there is 4 drivers outside trying to help this guy and one of them handed me a wrench. The trailer was pinned against my fender mirror. If it moved it would tear the mirror and damage the hood. I took the mirror off real quick and crossed my fingers. Finally after ten minutes of maneuvering and almost taking another mirror off another truck. The guy was parked and in very broken english apologized and went inside the truckstop. I thanked the drivers for their help, put my mirror back on and the only damage was a scratch on the main mirror. It could have been a lot worse.

Monday started out peaceful enough until I just about hit a ladder that was stretched out across the interstate in Columbus, OH. Somebody dropped it and didn't realize it was missing. This is not a new phenomenon as this is a rampant problem around cities. People don't know how to tie their ladders down. I made my delivery early and ended up at the Petro.

Tuesday I had an unusual assignment. Take my empty trailer to Topton, PA and then bobtail to Flanders, NJ to pick up another empty trailer. That was it. No new assignment so I had to drive 20 miles to the closest truckstop. It took 30 minutes just to get in there but I finally got in and managed to get a spot. A whole 198 miles for the day.

Wednesday I sat until 13:00 when I was given my next assignment. Deadhead was 35 miles to Flemmington, NJ and loaded miles was 56! I would have made more money for layover than to do this load. On top of that the shipper refused to give me directions. Imagine you want to send a package and the UPS guy calls you for directions to your house and you hang up on him. That's pretty much what happened to me. I was 30 minutes late due to the challenge of finding this place. But when I walked into the shipping office I was suddenly two hours late according to their schedule. Thankfully they loaded me in 20 minutes and I was off on my "huge" run to some city in PA that I can't spell.

Thursday I made my delivery and had another load going from Harrisburg, PA to Plymouth, MI. My appointment was 13:00. BUT when I get to the shipper I was informed that I wasn't even on their schedule! I heard the somebody forgot to email somebody song and then my appointment became 17:00. Luckily there was a big parking lot nearby and I was told I can sit there until my load time.

This is when the next incident happened. Trying to make a wide right turn I get out in the street when I guy on a motorcycle runs a stop sign. He was so surprised to see my grill he completely stops in time but his foot gets caught in the pedal and falls off the bike. I asked him if he was ok. He said yes and then I mentioned the stop sign. He was angry but knew not to argue and I proceeded to the parking lot.

At about 2pm I get a message to go over to the shipper. he had a cancellation and was gonna load me now. Finally things are looking up.

Friday I get to Plymouth. I was told to drop the trailer, pick up an empty in Livonia, MI but this time I had an assignment to deadhead to Monroeville, OH. This is where things get weird. I found the place with no problem, my appointment time was right, they loaded me with no issues and it was a drop in Springfield, MO. A smooth process that makes me forget about alternatives like flipping burgers.