*March 24th*
I-70 East...Illinois. Rolling to Syracuse, NY. El Hadj is driving, as I am still needing to reclaim a few hours of my government mandated break. I'm against a lot of government regulation. But, I see the need for a law making truckers get at least 10 hours of sleep. Since we are traditionally paid per mile, many truckers would try and push themselves to the limit to make as much moolah as they could. It's a public safety thing and I'm fine with it. Even though it does get hard to dance around. Anyway, I'll be driving here in a little bit. Makes me happy. It just puts me closer to my wife and my home. But I do hope the wind calms down a little. It was knocking me all over the road. A big trailer catches a lot of wind from the sides. Luckily for me, we have a lot of weight to help keep us on the road.
So yesterday, the drummer of the rock band Boston died on stage while playing. Not trying to turn this blog into an obituary...so bear with me. Anyway, I remember when the singer, Brad Delp, died. He barricaded himself in room, turned on a gas grill and died of asphyxiation. I'm no fan of the band. So, in timely jerk-wad fashion, I proceed to make jokes about it. For years actually. It helped that one of their big hits was a song called "Smokin". Fast forward roughly a decade, and an uncle of mine decided to end his life. Suicide. And he did it almost the exact same way as Delp. Not so funny anymore. Then, over the following few years, people I know well die unexpectedly. The deaths and loss of Denny, Joe, Cosmo, and Peigler really changed the way I feel about how precious life is. And how easily it can be taken away. So...in 2016, I decide to be a trucker of all things. And here I am now, 64 mph down a windy highway in Illinois in a 70 ft monster that weighs 75,000. A wrong judgment can easily kill me, or worse, innocent people. It really makes buckling up so much easier. It makes slowing down, being in less of a rush, less of an option and more of a requirement. I don't want to kill anyone or myself. And I don't want my wife to be a widow. So, it makes me think I am glad I decided to do this at 43 years old, rather than when I was in my 20s and making fun of death.
On a less serious note, but very sincere, I mentioned my uncle. Well, another uncle on the same side of my family, he was a trucker. For a long time actually. My mom's brother Gerald has always been special to me. Not just because he was a great guy with a heart of gold. But sometimes, with no warning, me and my siblings would be coming home from school on the bus, only to turn the corner and almost have the whole street blocked off with his rig. This was exciting. We loved having family visit us out in the boonies. But also, the whole bus would be fixated on the 18 wheeler in front of our house. "Yeah...that's our uncle's truck. No big deal. Yeah of course he let's me drive it around the neighborhood." Anyway, my Aunt Sue and Uncle Gerald are healthy, very happy and still running around the country. But now for liesure. It's pretty much the exact scenario that I want to play out for my wife and I.
*March 25th *
Syracuse, NY. It's about 9:00 am. El Hadj is still asleep. We're sitting in the holding lot of the last place we just delivered. They're letting us park here. I wish we were at a truck stop though, as I really need a cup of coffee. It's cold and rainy. There's nothing really major to report. Hell, I don't think we even have a new load assignment. I hope when they give us one that takes us way out West. That means lots of driving and lots of miles. And, I hope they dispatch us soon. Sitting around just means I'm wasting time.
Four weeks ago on this very day, Dusti (my wife) dropped me off at the airport to begin this...um...adventure. It's been 4 weeks since I've seen my wife, seen any family or friend, seen ANY friendly face, watched tv, slept in a good bed, ate a home cooked meal, relaxed, laughed, or any of the other things that make life worth living. By my calculations though, there is no real reason I shouldn't be at home on my couch in 2 weeks. It's a goal for me. I'm cranky...sorry.
*March 27th*
I-81 South...around Roanoke, VA. It's raining and we have 78,000 pounds on us. El Hadj is driving. I've been behind the wheel so much lately that I have to sit in the passenger seat for a while. Legal stuff. Not enthused about that. But it is what it is..as the saying goes. Anyway. Been in Roanoke before. Played music here a few times. Also know people here and from here. Hey Roanoke.
So yesterday after I wrote that we didn't have an assignment, we got dispatched to Kearny, NJ. Right across the water from NYC. From there to College Park, Jawja. South. More on that in a minute. So anyway we arrive (me driving ) at our pick up point. Directions say to meet the pick up at a truck stop beside the destination. Easy enough huh? Nah.... We call dispatch and they say those are bad directions and to go into the destination next door, check in, drop and hook then roll. Easy enough huh? Nah.... They tell us that we are not on the list and that we need to call dispatch, set up a pick up at the previous truck stop, and wait for an approved driver to meet us. Easy enough huh? Nahh... So El Hadj calls dispatch. Gets a DIFFERENT guy. He immediately lays into him about us going into the final destination...haha. Now...we did nothing wrong. The problem was faulty communication and information on their end. But El Hadj looked at me, serious as can be and said, "Some people need to learn how to talk to others." Hahaha. I quietly was laughing like a manic inside. Good god that's rich. Ok bud. Oddly enough, he was humbled for quite a while. And it didn't help he blundered big time as we were driving out and gave me bad directions. He accidentally sent me us through downtown Newark, NJ. A tight fit. He was sweating it. I didn't enjoy driving it but loved his reaction . Don't get me wrong....he was back to his normal asshole self in a few hours. But it felt nice to have him down on my flawed level for a little while.
Anyway, going to Georgia....we are passing through Charlotte. I'm choked up just thinking about being there in a little bit. Even better, El Hadj offered to let me stop and see her for a little bit. Pretty nice of him actually. Uncharacteristically actually. Anyway, the thought of seeing her is almost too much to describe right now. So I'm not.
I don't really feel like writing anymore today.
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