Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Excellent. Everything is is working order finally, and I have gotten to enjoy a couple extra days off due to the minor snafu. So I suppose things will readjust once more, as my life returns to a near continuous state of fluidity. Being on the road forces one to roll with the punches, as it were, taking whatever comes with the best one can offer.
Speaking of punches, I was informed sometime yesterday morning that I am now part of a “surge” of trucks hauling heavy reefer loads out of Sumner. No, this has nothing to do with winning hearts and minds of some darker skinned people. Nor does it have anything to do with killing people. Directly anyway. Furthermore, this also has no involvement of trafficking illicit smoking substances from a shady place outside of Seattle. I'd just as soon not be shot at or hijacked thank you very much.
Essentially, I was press-ganged into a regional job driving frozen foods to regional area wholesale stores. Stuff that will kill anyone eventually, probably from cholesterol or overdosing on preservatives. I went inside to visit with my DM and protest this new turn of events. Driving up and down mountains at 42 tons is all well and good, but there's so much more to see. Brian, my DM, went to speak with the terminal manager, but no dice. Brian came back to his desk with a resigned look on his face saying, “he doesn't so much ask as tell.”
The only natural rebuttal to this is a telling of my own. I informed them that I will help out for no more than a week or I walk. I certainly meant it at the time. Now, I wonder if it was so much hot air. In all truth, I could go back to work for Gordon again, or even another company. So here I am, not quite in a dilemma, but not quite where I want to be.
Having been away from the wheel for almost an entire week totally plays havoc with everything. I almost forgot how to plan a trip, or to even plan it period. My thought was to pick up early and get moving. Simple, but I would have run out of time without a reset in between. Bad news. I almost drove the entire load with a set of tandems 1000 pounds overweight. Had I hit an open scale before then, there could have been a hefty fine. Good thing I'm so lucky! Then there is the fuel gauge.
Normally, a half tank should get one about 500 or so miles. The distance from Sumner to Spokane is all of 290(ish) miles. Good to go. Someplace east of Ellensburg (read: good fuel stop) that damned buzzer goes off, indicating that something is wrong. The fuel level is dropping precipitously. I've had this happen twice before (at Battle Mountain of course!) but was able to get fuel then and there. Not so lucky this time. I called in for a new fuel route, and got one. I was to fill in Spokane at the Petro. *Face-plam* I chose to take the risk, since the gauge went back up to someplace around a ¼ tank.
There are lots of ups and downs between Ryegrass summit and exit 272. The fuel level dropped to “E” on two separate occasions. It bounced back up both times. It got to the point where I was watching the mpg display and cheering whenever it hit 10. One calculation after the other.... I only need 6 gallons of fuel.... now 10... back to 5. In the end, I pulled into Petro, and added 176 gallons to my tank. I'm not sure how much fuel I can hold, but 200 is the most likely limit, which translates into 190 gallons of usable fuel. A bit too close for my taste. Kinda like having a ¼ gallon left in your car.
After this experience, I came away with a valuable insight. The opposite of fear is not courage. You see, courage is dependent upon fear for it's very existence. You cannot be courageous or brave unless you are facing a fear, thus engendering the fear itself. The fear is made into an object to be overcome. The true opposite of fear is trust. A simple knowing that you will make it, or get to where you need to be, or to find what you want out of life. For me, this will be a concept for me to integrate over time. I've spent so long being brave (or foolhardy) and fear is so pervasive in our culture, promoted by the media, because sensation sells. I like the idea of trusting more. So much gentler, indeed it can be the only way forward.
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