Saturday, December 10th, 2011
On time delivery. These are words a driver lives by, for it is what we provide, and our companies sell. For some it is a sort of credo, a maxim to live by. This is what I do when I am doing this job. Often times, the hours of delivery will be funny, and it may or may not mess with the hours of service rules. Happily, my current load does not have an appointment time yet. My sole issue is making it into Seattle by Monday.
Honestly, it isn't much of an issue. I've worked out all of the details yesterday when getting assigned the load. The only challenge, albeit a negligible one, is doing it within my 70 hour limit. That's where today comes in. I'm taking a 36 hour break (it is 36 in Canada instead of a 34 hour restart). For the most part this is a good thing. It lets drivers rest and regain their stamina. I don't feel that I need it, but my log book tells me that I do. Which brings me to my current dilemma. I needed a shower yesterday, so I parked at the card-lock Flying J, which oddly enough has showers. A card-lock is a Canada thing where there are just pumps but no real facilities for truckers, barring showers in this exception. No wi-fi. No place to get out of the truck and gawk a stupid shit. No movies. Nothing but a C-store and a bathroom, which is just fine, but leaves me with not much to do but keep my own company.
That said I am slowly going a bit nutty. After all of the stimulation and distractions of driving, there's not much left to do. I have a couple books I can read, but I've read them already. They may bear flipping through again. In lieu of practicing the banjo (which is still in Sedro-Woolley) I will write, meditate and walk around a lot. Here's where the writing comes in. I'm going to write a bit now and then today, and see if the format suits me. This may not be practical while driving, but for days like today, it may help save my sanity.
0930: Ate some Captain Crunch for breakfast. Awesome. Been awake for 2 hours now. It is going to be a long day. I told myself that I would tidy up the truck today, so I will, but not just yet. I'm going to save that for when I really need something to do.
1715: Turns out that there is a truck stop a short walk away. They offer free internet and, of course, rest rooms. (which are called washrooms here for some reason, but w/e) Having sat in the restaurant to use wi-fi and chat with Jen, I became invariably sucked into conversation with some Canadians about politics. They weren't trying to convince me of anything, but sure had a lot to say about the U.S. and it's policies. Yep. Truckers up here aren't much different than in the states. Everyone's got an opinion.
2115: I spent some time reading and not doing much in general. I did manage to tidy up my truck and I found it was not really that messy to begin with. I spent some time considering what I will do about my upcoming home time and how to work going back and forth and where to leave the truck in the meanwhile.
Hmm. So in the end, I've decided that the time format isn't really going to work for me. I'll keep it for now, but I feel that it interferes with the narrative in general. I kinda like telling stories as opposed to just saying what I've done.
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