Sunday, March 25, 2007

On the job for a month

So I’ve been on the job for a month and have been so busy that I really haven’t had time to sit back and write bout my new adventures yet. Life on the road is a little different than I remember, but all in all it is adventurous, thrilling, and sometimes just plain crazy. The best part is that I never know where I’m going to be from one day to another. Some days I wake up in Chicago and other days I have awoken in Niagara Falls, Canada or Amish country in Northern Indiana and Michigan.

It’s hard to say where the coolest place I’ve been to have been because each place has its own level of excitement to it. For instance, I believe it was my second week on the job and it was snowing like crazy. I was fallowing the directions to my stop and I started to notice that it was out in the middle of nowhere. I was thinking it was an initiation run or something. There was about a foot of snow (not removed from the streets), no lights on anywhere, and out in the middle of nowhere. Oh and it was three o’clock in the morning.

I arrive at my so called destination which was just past some stop sign and nothing for as far as I could see (at 3 o’clock in the morning). So I park the truck and pass out. I wake up in the morning to a knocking on the door. I’m thinking it might be someone wanting to know if I was still alive or something. Turns out to be a gentleman with a small black hat, long beard, white shirt and a black coat on. I think to myself I understand now. I’m in Amish country. Suddenly everything became clear and the view was beautiful! ! ! There were farms up on hills, horse drawn buggies, kids walking to school and me with a big ass semi full of groceries.

Another great run for me was while I was up in Buffalo, NY. My dispatcher hits me up on my in cab computer and asks me the same question I had been asking myself all day. “Can you go to Canada?” I had to stop for a minute and think about that. So I called him back and asked the same question. “I don’t know, can I?” he laughed and asked if I had a valid license, no felony convictions, or was I wanted for anything. I was like yes, no, no. So I was off to Niagara Falls, ON. How kool is that. Going over the boarder was kool, being in Canada trying to figure out km instead of mph was kool and getting a load of Peat Moss was kool. Now what sucked is the 2 or 3 hour wait you have while waiting for your paperwork to get sent to customs and not having any Canadian money. So needless to say, I will have money next time and I will find a way to see the falls because big trucks are not allowed in the park.

I guess you could say that truck driving is pretty kool. Yes like every other job it has its ups and downs and ins and outs. I have good days where everything goes right and I have bad days where nothing goes right. For instance I strongly agree with every other trucker that enters Chicago and says that they need to shut down the entire city for a few months and raise all of the bridges by at least 3 inches. Also whatever the hell this Super 70 is going through Indiana and Ohio needs to be completed by tomorrow morning. LOL! ! ! Some people ask if it’s hard being on the road all week long and I tell them that it’s really not. Thanks to my friend Jetter that introduced me to XM radio and my laptop with Tivo on it. I can get through a week with little to no problems. The only thing I need is a better headset for my cell phone, but that’s about it. It’s weird waking up sometimes and jumping straight into the driver’s seat, but it happens. However watching the sun raise and set over the foot hills of OH and PA is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It’s what separates my cubical from other cubicles.

More adventures to come. .