Monday, May 16, 2011

Another Day In The Trucking Life


Well, the weekend has come and gone, it's almost six o'clock in the evening, Eastern time, and I'm sitting in some parking lot, looking out the window while Ed does more stuff to the truck. I wish I could tell you what was going on, but I have no clue. All I know is that we spent the better part of the last two hours, driving around looking for a particular part he needed. I shouldn't have to tell you at this point, that our load wasn't ready. Which is okay by me, as I don't mind the wait too much.

I don't know where we are are, I haven't eaten lunch, and I spent way too much time on the phone this morning with my best friend talking about nothing. I have an article to write (deadline is four days away) and need to put together a few posts for the other website I write for. I have notes for that one all laid out, just haven't pieced it together yet. You think I'd have been doing that while I was sitting around the nice, quiet hotel room. But nooooo, I used that time to get lost in the internet and watch HBO.

This run we're on has been pretty fantastic; the money is great, but it's the driving part I really like. As I mentioned before, I really love the route. There is a small, 200-mile portion of the trip I dislike (from Spokane, WA to Cle Elum, WA - the eastern part of Washington state), but I usually try to convince Ed to time the driving so by the time we get there, I'll be asleep and won't have to see it.

As I look at the kitchen/living room/bedroom area of my truck, which is currently stacked with four cases of synthetic motor oil and a large box containing new shocks for the truck, I wonder what's for dinner.

I have a busy, busy night planned; "Dancing With The Stars" and the season premier of "Castle".

Busy, busy, indeed.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
Ed Prepares For The Italy Trip
2 YEARS AGO:
Strolling Along The Atlantic
3 YEARS AGO:
Eddie Chatting It Up Friday
4 YEARS AGO:
The ABC’s Of Me
5 YEARS AGO:
After The Storm
6 YEARS AGO:
The Essence Of Me

2 comments:

Dale said...

Just curious, do you guys get compensated for the delay(s) of the load being ready at a certain point in time?

The Daily Rant said...

Dale: On almost all loads, if we are detained or laid over, we get paid.

Detention is paid when you are "detained" - typically 2-4 hours after what you were told the pick-up time would be, depending on the contract with the customer.

Layover is paid when we get "laid over", like overnight. That rate is usually determined by the agent.

Usually, it works out to anywhere between $300 to $500 per day.