Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Waiting It Out

Today marks one week of sitting in Fontana, CA. We dropped a load last Tuesday morning and haven't found a load out yet.

There's not much here in Fontana. From what I can see, it's miles and miles of used truck lots, trailer sales locations and big truck repair. There's one truckstop that I noticed, off of Valley Boulevard, and a few miles away in Ontario, are two T/A's that straddle Milliken Avenue.

North of the Interstate, also off Milliken, are a bevy of stores and restaurants. Ontario Mills Mall is over there, but they don't allow any form of truck; straight truck, tractor or tractor-trailer combos in their parking lots, signs threatening they will be towed on every side of the property. That means no shopping for me. I did have Ed drop me off there so I could make some returns at Nordstrom Rack, but we couldn't stay so I had him circle the perimeter of the mall until I was ready for him to pick me up. Sad, indeed.

Usually around this time of year, we are gearing up to do the UPS run, but not this year. It seems they only have enough freight for their own drivers and a few contractors. On one hand I'm glad, because it's a brutal run, with only enough time to eat, sleep and pee. On the other hand, I'm disappointed because it's great money and the actual work part is minimal; drop and hook trailers, that's it.

We'll hang until tomorrow to see if anything pops up. If there's nothing by the end of the day, we'll pack it up and head home for Thanksgiving. It'll be at least 18 hours of deadhead, but I'll get to see the family and have a home cooked Thanksgiving meal. And that's gotta be worth it.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
My Life According To Sugarland
2 YEARS AGO:
EPCOT On Fire
3 YEARS AGO:
Eddie Full Of Turkey Friday
4 YEARS AGO:
Crouching Poultry, Hidden Turkey
5 YEARS AGO:
Is It Really A Sandwich?

3 comments:

Gil said...

Sorry to hear that you got stuck in such a miserable place. I hope that by the time you read this you either have a good paying load or at home having enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with your family!

Lipstick Trucker said...

If you go up Milliken just before The Olive Garden on your right you will see a dirt lot. YOU CAN park a truck there. It is not part of the mall. I talked to mall security and they said you can park there you will not be towed. The lot belongs to the city but they (security) have never seen a truck towed from there. I parked there for 2-3 hours while i shopped at the mall.

Sam Huss said...

You can also park out behind the little strip mall area on the NE corner of the Miliken interchange where the In-N-Out Burger is. I've parked there several times to go grab a burger. There's a few docks back there and I've never been questioned. Room for about 5 trucks or so.