Garden Plot #2

I told my wife that in the 24 hours that I would be home, I'd do 2 things ... make a loaf of bread (with the A/C on it didn't rise ...) ... and dig a 2nd garden plot for her to plant. I was almost done digging the plot out next to the previous one ... when I struck water with the mattock!!!

Look at that ... a real geyser!

It's the city side of the line ... not flowing thru any of our meters ... so we can't turn it off. We tried phoning the city ... nothing ... so we drove around to find a policeman. He called the police chief who came and looked. The police chief called the Mayor. Between the two of them they got a fellow to come over to deal with it.

In the meantime I convinced my wife to use 2 metal clothes hangers to go dowse where this line was flowing underground ... We traced it up to a meter by some trailers (it was shut-off) ... then traced it down to a larger pipe (my wife says, according to the hanger reactions) ... that turned left ... headed thru the trees and fenceline ... and out to the other street.

When the fellow showed up, we told him where it ran (and that we had turned all our meters off and it wasn't stopping it) ... so he headed over to the other street and eventually found a hand-valve over there that shut it off. Of course, it also killed water to our house and the one next door (our landlord). Time to break out the sawdust toilet until Monday ... I'll be in the truck ... wife will have to make-do. :-)

Off and Running ...

This foto is not from a race course ... while driving west on Hwy 84 yesterday, I saw in my rearview mirror what I thought was a Growler car ... but when it got close to me, I realized it looked more like a race car. I grabbed my camera and while stabilizing the steering wheel with my elbows ... managed to take this foto as it whipped around me. The driver ... just to the left of the yellow thing ... is wearing a full-face helmet.

When I delivered the load in Quincy ... they didn't ask for a lumper fee ... so after picking up a peanut load ... I put that money into the fuel tanks (a whole 26 gallons) ... and made it back to the yard with barely a 1/4 tank of fuel.

That's when I found out that Daniel can't drive this run. Something to do with a citation 6 yrs ago in NY. New York had suspended his CDL ... but Alabama never knew about it. However, Illinois managed to discover it. Daniel cleared it up with NY. But now Illinois has suspended his CDL, because they say he was illegally driving a commercial vehicle in their state without a license.

So, I just got home yesterday afternoon ... and I'm off and running again this morning. :-(

Today's Question

Well, after many faxes back and forth ... they finally said they would unload me at 10:00 a.m. today EST. Then I waited all yesterday afternoon and all night ... I am currently backed into a door, and they have actually started to take some pallets off.

After this is done, I need to get across Atlanta ... pick up another load ... and deliver it in Quincy, FL tomorrow morning.


The Question: will I run out of money and fuel before I run out of miles to get back home??

Concerns: 1) I have half a tank of fuel (maybe 75-85 gallons) 2) I get 6 miles to a gallon (+ or less) 3) Over 350 miles to Quincy 4) Have to pay lumpers at Publix in Dacula, GA ($85-100) 5) Have to pay lumpers at SuperValue in Quincy, FL ($85-100) 6) An additional 100+ miles from Quincy to the yard 7) Only $300 to do it all with ...

Expectations

There I was on Monday morning ... delivering in Elgin. Then parking in their lot while waiting on a load. At noon, I was called to pick up a load in Paw Paw, MI at 3:30 p.m. (they are Eastern time) ... I'm 40 miles NW of downtown Chicago ... in a 55 mph state ... 167 miles from Paw Paw ... not counting road construction on I-80 and I-94 ... it would take a minimum of 3 hours to get there ... the 90 mph broker was only allowing 2.5 hours to get there. So, 3.5 hrs later, when I legally arrived, I was "late" for the pickup. This put me at the end of the list, behind every truck that continued to show up on time for their pick up.

At 11:15 p.m. they finally loaded me. I drove to the nearest commercial truck scale ... my trailer axles scaled at 38,220 lbs. TOO HEAVY. I slid the wheels all the way to the rear ... scaled this time at 36,000 ... still 2,000 lbs TOO HEAVY ... with no way to change that.

Back at CCNA in Paw Paw, I showed them the scale tickets ... they unhappily removed the entire load and re-loaded my trailer with more of the heavier things further forward. It was now 1:00 a.m. and I was at the end of my DOT legal day. I had to go out the gate, find a place to park, and go to sleep.

I couldn't start work until 11:00 a.m. I pre-tripped the truck, drove to a scale, and this time was able to get all axles legal ... with no room for error (this is a heavy load). I then proceeded to drive 677 miles in just under a DOT legal 11 hours. I stopped just before the "open" GA DOT scale at exit 345 on I-75 at Ringgold, GA. There is supposed to be a 72-hr DOT inspection blitz going on ... and I wouldn't want to be caught doing anything illegal.

So at 8:00 a.m. I could inspect my truck and head down the road to Atlanta ... and then over to Dacula, GA to deliver.

It seems someone forgot to tell me that the delivery appointment was at 5:30 a.m. EST (4:30 my time) ... SO, when I arrived, Publix refused to unload me ... saying I was 6 hours late ... call your dispatch and have them make another appointment ... if you are lucky, you might get one today after 1600 hrs (4 p.m.) ... maybe 7 p.m.

Which "shoots down the tube" the load load I was supposed to pick up at 12:30 p.m. and deliver tomorrow in Tallahassee area.

If I'm not told your expectations (delivery time), I can't meet them. (gripe ... ) Of course we are not admitting to any illegality or possible sleep deprivation to meet expectations.

Just a Weed

On the way to church I saw these lovely flowers ... it is actually one of those nasty goat-head thorns ... things you hate if going barefoot ...

To get the foto, I lay down on the sidewalk ... while wearing a suit and white shirt ... good thing my wife wasn't around ... I don't think she would have approved. Click on the foto to see the larger image ... they really are quite lovely.