Joey’s Crappy Day

Most people are asking me if I have run into any snow in my job as a truck driver. The answer is yes… yes I have. My location is the Petro in Kingdom City, MO. I stopped here last night to get some rest and decided to stay here all day today since there’s about 5 inches of snow on the ground. My load does not deliver until Monday morning and it is only 280 miles away, so I figured I would just sit tight today and let the road improve.

Another advantage to this strategy is that I will get a 34 hour restart. You see, truckers have three clocks they must live by. The first two clocks are the 11 hour and 14 hour clocks. Each driver can drive 11 hours, but those hours must be contained within a period of 14 consecutive hours. And each 14 hour period must be separated by a 10 hour rest period. For example, if I were to get up at 6:00am and start driving, I would have until 8:00pm in which I could work. At 8:00pm I must stop for at least 10 hours whether I want to or not. Within that period I can only drive 11 of the hours and the rest of the hours are used for inspections and breaks. You do not have to drive for 11 hours or use up the whole 14 hours if you do not wish. But you do need the 10 hours rest period to reset the 14 hour clock.

The third clock is the 70 hour clock. Drivers cannot drive for more than 70 hours in 8 days. For example, if I took the total number of hours I had driven for the past 7 days and it came to 65 hours, then today I would only be able to drive 5 hours regardless of the 11 hour and 14 hour clocks. But the 70 hour clock can be reset to zero by going off duty for a period of 34 hours.

So the plan is to sit here until tomorrow morning and then my 70 hour clock will be zeroed. I’m using the time to work on my blog, watch some movies, and just generally not worry about anything. It is a well deserved break after 32 consecutive days of being on the road. As a comparison, imagine living at your place of employment for 32 days without being able to visit family or friends. Oh, and your place of work only has an outhouse for a bathroom.

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Today I’m in Breezewood, PA. I stopped at the Petro:2 Stopping Center for the evening. Actually it was like 1400 CST when I stopped, but I am running low on hours and thought I’d conserve some for tomorrow and Sunday in case I need some buffer.

I’ve been braving the snow and ice for a little over a week now and am headed to the Midwest for more of the same. I just hope they have things cleared up by the time I get there. I had a delivery up in Mass on Monday morning. The roads were okay going in, but an overnight ice storm gave everything a slick coat. I spent about 40 minutes at the consignee doing a tight three point turn and blind side backing combination on a solid layer of ice. The forklift driver was sympathetic to my situation and did what he could to assist me.

I was then dispatched to RI to drop off my empty at a Conway terminal and then I headed down to Newark, NJ bobtail to pick up an empty from a Fedex terminal. That’s a lot of miles with no freight. I spent the night in New Jersey last night across the river from NYC. It was about 2100 local as I came down from RI, so traffic had abated and the GW was flowing at above the speed limit. The city looked beautiful, but Jersey was a hell hole and of course there was no parking.

I was short on hours upon arrival in NJ, but managed to get my current load which is about 1250 miles. I needed this load because this pay period has been abysmal. I’ve been dispatched 3 times to cart empties around and 2 times to bobtail to pick up empties. I’m thinking that freight is a bit scarce and my fellow drivers at the Molly Pitcher service plaza on the Jersey turnpike thought so as well this morning.

Tomorrow I plan to get up early and get in a full day of driving and then drive as much as my hours will allow on Sunday. With any luck that will put me within spitting distance of my delivery point. If not then I’ll have to wait until after midnight when I pick up more hours and drive the rest of the way in early Monday morning. I could really use a 34 hour restart about right now because I’m burning up hours as fast as I gain them back.

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Here’s a post that may or may not be the first in a series of posts about where I am currently located. Turns out that I am in Bloomsburg, PA. I’m sitting at the TA truck stop here trying to decide if I want to get up early and try to outrun the ice or if I want to sleep in and wait until the temperature comes up. I’m probably going to sleep in since I don’t think my 10 hour break will be over before the weather gets here. Once I’m on the road I’ll be headed up to Leominster, MA which is thankfully not near Boston.

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It’s not just a holiday for racists and old Jewish guys anymore. It’s Festivus, For the Rest of Us. Get your official Festivus pole today! Now let the Airing of Grievances begin!

As many of you know, I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s in over a year. So when I got a craving for something besides Arby’s yesterday, I decided to go for a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

Here’s the letter I wrote to McDonald’s after my visit.

I have not eaten at McDonalds in over a year. So when I ate at your store yesterday, you should have been trying harder to impress me. The store in question was #25273. I was not greeted when I came in. The cashier just stared at me until I ordered. In fact, he said nothing except to give me my total. Next, the store was filthy, both behind the counter and in the eating area. The ketchup was empty. All the tables were dirty. The floor was dirty. I was afraid to go into the restroom. While I was there several employees were on break and several more went on break. None of them tried to clean anything before or after going on break. They seemed to be unaware of the state of the filth they were working in. I saw no manager on duty, but I wasnt looking too hard. Also, I asked for dine in service, but my food was given to me in a bag as if it were carry out. You just wasted one bag.