HoLy MoLY!

Thursday, February 2^nd, 2012

      You know what makes this job so interesting? If you do, write your answer on a $100 bill and send it to me. Listening to Car Talk, is not the answer (but thanks for the inspiration anyway). The most surprising and intriguing aspect is all the people you meet. Landscapes and nature are always spectacular (I did manage to spy a bunny on the lawn at Denver!), yet they will always be so. Granted, they may appear different in varying seasons and weather, which is part of the reason I find the natural aspects of this job enchanting, but for sheer stun power, it has to be the people.

      We'll skip right to the people. I pulled into Inland Empire, my shipper for this load. They make cardboard boxes. A cat's dream job (well testing them anyway). I have no idea what is going on, so I talk to the yard jockey. They are the guys that move trailers about on these tiny little truck-like vehicles with an itsy-bitsy turn radius comparatively. I do as instructed, go inside after a small jog and grab my paperwork. Jogging back to the truck, I find the trailer which bizarrely had two sets of numbers, one stuck over the other. I'm checking the trailer for the ride, making sure the mudflaps are secure, the lights work, the load is secure, the wheels are inflated, and so forth when the yard jockey comes around and informs me that He'd like to shuffle a bunch of trailers around, and it would help if I move the trailer I'm hooking to. Well of course I'm going to move it. I seal the doors (which is less grandiose than it sounds) and make my way to my truck.

      The yard jockey is there explaining how he plans to move everything, not that I care, but I listen top be polite. This is how the conversation went, to the best of my recollection.

      “The yard is too small. It feels like it has gotten smaller since Inland got bought out.”

      “By who,” I wondered aloud.

      “IP,” Since I've hauled all sorts of paper products before I know he means 'International Paper' yet he continues, “International Paper.” Then out of left field he asks, “Are you a Believer?”

       My response, “In what? International Paper?” Seriously. I felt that I had missed some kind of segue here. I guess there wasn't one.

      “Well who do you work for?”

      “Uh, I work for Swift, it says so on the side of the truck.” He smiled that condescending smile of 'you are so going to burn in hell.' I played it a bit more, just because I enjoy this sort of thing.

      “There are only two kingdoms,” he continued. I wish I could invent stuff this comical, but real life is way funnier. So I started to get his drift, which I had since the first question.

     “Oh, if you are talking about religious stuff, then I consider myself more of a Taoist.”

      A blank stare. “What the hell is that?”

     “It is something like a Buddhist, but without the detachment from the world, rather the acceptance that you are a part of it [and by extension divine, which I did not say. No need to irk him more]”

      “Oh, well then that's too bad, (something about sin, I forget.)”

      I'm feeling that it is tie to wrap this up and get going, I've got to get out of Denver before the shit... err... snow storm hits the area. “Well that's all well and good, I respect that you have a different belief than I do, and that's cool. I'm content with my belief system, and you are welcome to respect that as well, or not.”

      “That's the greatest sin!” What? Letting people think their own thoughts? God forbid! Or is it agreeing to live and let live? Man, I could only imagine what he would have said if I were a Muslim!

      In the back of my head, I leave thinking, “Well dude, you can enjoy your beliefs. I cannot fathom the idea of a god that judges you, for one, then hates you so much as to separate you from the rest of life. Inconceivable!” More to the point, I'm straight up baffled that people still believe in things like “sin” and “god's wrath” If I didn't have a calendar, I would have sworn that we were sometime in the Dark Ages.

      Heh, I wonder what he would have said if I told him about all of the nature spirits that surround us, and help make the planet grow, Or perhaps about all of the other planes of existence that go far beyond 'Heaven' and 'Hell.' Or the myriad of pixies, gnomes, sprites and Divas that romp and play in the forests. Or even talking to trees. Yeah, I'd totally be burned at the stake. Well, maybe not. I would more likely be preached at about how I am 'sinning.' But like I said, to each their own. I hope he has a great life!

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11_1_11

Tuesday, November 1^st, 2011

Keeping up with this may be a challenge! I am stopped in a small beautiful place called Brocket, Alberta. I cannot imagine that more than 500 people live here. The view is of wide open prairie, with mountains off to the southwest, capped with snow. The locals are nice, no surprise there. The one dude working the counter has lived here his whole life. I'd say he was probably 21 or so.

For the first real day of work, today was a doozy. We'll start at the beginning. Up at 0430 my time to get rolling. Typical day for the most part. The sooner you start, the sooner you can park and know that you can find a place to park in. My mission today was to drive an empty trailer across the border and swap it for a full one heading to Calgary. So I drove west, up through Crowsnest Pass, into B.C. Beautiful scenery when the sun came out. Plenty of craggy mountains, snow capped peaks, tamarack trees changing color, still and mirror surfaced lakes enchanting the beauty in a dark wet way.. Seeing as my truck has been governed at 60 mph (100kph for our Canadian friends!) I certainly get plenty of time to take in the sights. 

Being compelled to drive at such speeds, I often found myself invariably being followed by someone or other. (I will say that I passed 1 car today.. they were going 85kph in a 100 zone). So for the longest time, I was being followed by a lowboy flatbed truck. By way of explanation, a lowboy is a flatbed that hooks to the truck over the drive tires, goes back a bit, then drops down and back. The rear tires are usually much smaller than the front (but not always). I guess I would say it looks kinda like a straightened out and elongated “Z”. So this guy was following me for a number of miles along AB 3 and BC 3. After sometime along this 2 lane road, a passing lane opened up and he zoomed right by me. I was glad to have him on his merry way. Not a big fan of people riding my ass really. 
 

Meanwhile, during this initial trip, I quickly found out that my heater was rather anemic. I could run the heat at half fan, but any more than that and the air would blow cold. I put up with this for a while, figuring it would be useful to get back into the States and a repair shop with. A memory gradually surfaced.... people will often shut a particular valve in the summer time to reduce heat going into the climate control unit. My guess was that it was closed. (turns out I was right and corrected the issue.) After thinking about it for some time, I decided that I would pull over and remedy this situation. Finding one of the many, many turnouts along the way, I pulled off the highway, of all places, behind the lowboy driver who had passed me earlier. I got out, stretched a bit, and unlatched the hood. Quite the production to turn a knob, but hey, better than freezing. I then proceeded to inspect the engine where I thought the valve would be. For one reason or another, I missed it on this attempt. A brilliant idea flashed into my mind, “I can go ask that lowboy driver! I bet he'd know.” Turning away from my truck, I begin walking to his. Then I stop. I see him under his trailer, just behind his drive wheels, doing what I had no clue. I figure he was doing some repair or something. With a wave from his roll of TP, it occurred to me that he was indeed taking care of business, but not what I thought. Taken aback, I proclaimed, “Never-mind” and decided to go back to my truck.

After a few moments, and me taking a whiz, he pulled away. I did not see him again, or catch any further glimpses of him. I feel that I may have been too embarrassed to look. In the dim predawn light, I could discern a trail of liquid, and I saw his rear tire roll over a dark spot on the pavement. I attempted to let my mind explain it away as just a dark oil blotch on the pavement. That was until a Raven flew down to that very spot and picked at it. Oh how I wish I was making this up. The Raven flew off shortly thereafter, but I fear that this memory will stay with me for some time. 

10_31

Monday, October 31^st 2011

So today is the first day in the truck. Technically, I suppose that first night would be more accurate. My company flew me into Lethbridge, Alberta to collect a truck that has been in the shop for some time. From what I have gathered, the oil filter on the truck disintegrated internally, then proceeded to completely destroy the engine from the inside. This is cool for me because I am essentially getting a completely rebuilt engine.

The other exciting event is that I'm in Canada, and dang if the natives (the imported ones) aren't nice as pumpkin pie. I cannot think of a friendlier pie, so I'm sticking with pumpkin. Seeing as I flew in with at least 2 weeks' worth of clothing and paperwork, food did not factor much into my packing agenda. After performing all sorts of checks and inspections on my new vehicle, it dawned upon me that I needed food. I took it upon myself to walk to the nearest food vendor. To be honest, I had a vague idea of where the food was, and it was a ways off. Out of hand, I somehow ended up walking to a tropical fish store tucked away in an industrial park. I'm not sure how the logic of placing a fish store in a heavy industrial sector of town goes, but I'm sure cheap rent is involved. That, and I bet the guys that work at the odoriferous chicken and/or pork processing plant down the road have quite the collection of tropical fish.  

I walked towards the door, seeing as the store was still open, and there was this dude just kinda standing there, inside the door. Assuming that he was the shop owner, I wave him down from the street, hoping to ask for directions before he leaves for the night. He looked at me in a odd fashion as I approached. Exiting the building he went straight for his car as I asked, “Excuse me, do you live around here?”

He said nothing, perhaps pretending not to have heard me, perhaps thinking, “I'm in the dirty part of town, and this guy is smiling at me. I hope he doesn't want to be my 'friend'.”

I asked again and he replied in a somewhat brusque manner, perhaps still thinking I was some crazy dude out to shank him. This time, however, I evoked a response which informed me that yes he was from around here,, no he had no clue where to go to eat, and that he lived closer to downtown. While the last piece of info was superfluous to my investigation, it helped color my picture of where he was coming from. For those that have never been to Lethbridge, I would venture to say that this place is safe enough to leave a bicycle unlocked outside your home. I did not see any graffiti, or any signs of decay, and the place has that friendly high plains neighbor thing going on. Maybe he was just a bit off. 

Long story short, I go into the fish store, ask the 2 guys inside where I can find some food. Turned out the younger guy was just getting off of work and gave me a ride to the A&W / Subway / Mini-mart. He also pointed out the casino, and informed me that casino winnings are not taxed in Canada. Awesome! I chose against gambling since my goal is to amass a small gob of cash (although maybe some will come by way of chance). Honestly, I figured that seeing the ATM in the mini-mart with an “OUT OF ORDER” sign on it discouraged me from wanting to gamble. Coupled with the lack of Canadian currency I figured that it wasn't in the cards for me. 

The long walk back was a bit cold and windy, yet surprisingly short for the perceived distance traveled. Is anything greater than having the wind at your back for nearly the entire duration of the walk? Maybe some sun and no wind. If you want to be choosy about it that is. 

So here we go. I'm going to put in an effort and attempt to write daily, if only for my own sake. I intend for this to be my last stint of trucking, so I may as well document it. I've always talked of writing a book about life on the road, and I guess these are just little story notes :)