***Hi. I wrote the first of these entries on Thursday, 06/13, but didn't have an internet connection to post it. The part I wrote today is after the set of asterisks (or starry things for my slower readers). Love you***
Yesterday (Wednesday) was a good day. We were on our way to Wisconsin (where I am currently typing this) and we got a message on our Qualcomm, a GPS/messenger/day-revolves-around-it type machine, saying that I had 181 of my required hours and that they are going to start routing me back to California so that I can get my own truck and finally get back home. I was supposed to go to sleep when we got that message but man, I was so excited. As fun (??) as this has been, I am ready to go home. From here on out I will not be gone for more than three weeks at a time, but most of the time it will be two weeks. With the exception of two days, I've been gone for about seven weeks. It was one thing being on tour with your friends, time flew, but out here your only company are your thoughts and David. Both of those things are fucking nuts. Also, now that I will be out on my own I should have time, sometimes at least, to visit my friends throughout the country. Pretty excited to see people that I haven't seen for years.
Today was a yesterday-killer. I was minding my own business, driving, listening to Dillinger Four when my phone died and that meant no music. You've driven without music, it sucks. Then we get a message for our next load, which I am stoked because it is the one routing me West. Nope. Michigan. That wasn't part of the deal. I immediately called my driver manager, but she was not at her desk and has yet to call me back. Odds are they are routing us that way so that we can get a load heading West, and it isn't TOO far out of the way, but still in the opposite direction of where I want to be going. I am doing everything I can to get back to Fresno by Sunday so that Vero and I can go to this wedding show at the place we want to have our wedding. I'll drive all night if I have to. I can be pretty much anywhere in two days, with David's help and driving my ass off, but when I get back to Fontana I still have to take a few tests and then wait for a truck to available for me to take (they normally go through services like oil changes, belts and normal wear and tear crap like that). Still, fingers crossed. If they keep messing with me and sending me East I may not get back until Saturday or even Sunday and that would be an endless bummer.
Time will tell. I am trying to remain positive. Someone's gotta' get this beastie full of forty two thousand pounds of onion rings to the people, damn it! I am just the bear for the job.
David on the $wingin' Utter$: "Slow down! Slow down...! Oh... I thought there was something wrong with the truck. This sucks."
Bear out.
***
How things change in the matter of a few hours. It is currently Sunday (you remember, the day I wanted to be back by at the latest) and I am currently sitting in a driver's lounge at a truck stop in humid, hot Birmingham, Alabama. It's been a hectic weekend, to say the least. When you're going from shipper to reciever you always have a deadline, or appointment time to get there by whether it is just to drop off your trailer and pick up another one or if it's to get loaded or unloaded. Either way, you get there on time, you get your load taken care and you keep moving. Three days in a row my load has not been ready and that kept pushing back my next load, just completely obliterating all of my plans. And these are not small delays, there's been like twelve or twenty hour push backs. And there is NOTHING you can do about this. I found myself in Wal-Marts and driver's lounges just fiddling my damn thumbs for hours. With no internet of course (or else I would have posted that previous written blog). Now yesterday (Saturday) was the worst day I've had out here so far. So the plan was after Michigan to go to Indiana to deliver in Iowa, then to Oklahoma, then Texas then Utah where I would get my own truck and FINALLY get home. Nope. On our way to Oklahoma they rerouted us to Alabama because another driver ran out of driving hours and he had a priority load. Now from Alabama we go to North Carolina then Wisconsin, Idaho and SUPPOSEDLY straight back to California by like Saturday. I was so mad, dude. And there was just nothing to be done about it. I honestly wanted to quit until I talked to Vero and she talked me out of it, although she was disappointed that I wasn't going to get home any time soon either. I've been gone for so long now and I am so close to being done with this, it would be such a waste to give up now. I'm glad I have her and my family to keep me focused. There's a job to be done and I just need to shut up, man up and get it done.
I slept fourteen hours the other day, I've never slept that long in my life. I just couldn't keep my eyes open, it was my first "day off" since the truck broke down in Salt Lake City a few weeks ago, and it was alright because it was one of those delayed loads so I had the time to do it. I'm not saying that this job is hard, because it isn't, but it is exhausting sometimes. Especially since you have don't really have days off and you can only get so comfortable in that small truck. I can't wait to get my own beastie and to bring my guitar with me. And to not have to sleep on the tiny top bunk!! Eventually I'm going to get a dog, too. So excited about that idea. Yesterday I drove for ten hours and I seriously ran out of things to think about. I couldn't think of a single thing to think of! It was insane, and those who know me know that I complicate things and think of every angle of every situation when I let my mind just wander. On that note, I am in serious need of more music. Listening to music for ten hours a day is rad and I have made so many playlists already, but I could really stand to mix it up. Any suggestions are appreciated.
David on my sleeveless shirts: "It's amazing what they pass as muscles these days."
Chuck Ragan and Elvis Presley playlists today. Lovin' it.
Bear out.
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