Dry Runs

This week has probably been one of the most frustrating weeks of our job. It seems like everytime we go home and then come back out on the road we start slow, but oh boy, this week was the pits.

We got a load from home on Monday that picked up in Martinsburg, WV that was going to Lynn, MA. It was a hazmat load and paid pretty well so we thought we were off to a good start. And it was so far.

We drove to Martinsburg which is a little over 2 hours from our house and picked up our load and I noticed that instead of 2 pallets we had 4. So Pops went back inside and we had to return to the dock to have 2 pallets taken back off. Good thing we paid attention to the paperwork. And then we started our drive to Lynn (a suburb of Boston.)

Everyone knows that we don’t particularly care for Boston but you have to do what you have to do sometimes. Anyway, it was an early morning delivery and traffic wasn’t too bad. So we found our place easily and made the delivery and our company wanted us to layover in Boston to wait on a load. So we parked less than 1 block from where we delivered and we waited.

By evening we were still waiting. So we decided to relocate to Hartford, CT.

We drove over there to a rest area that we like and found a really good parking spot real close the bathroom but lots of space and grass so that I could just let the dogs out without worrying about them getting run over.

We settled in and watched some videos on the computer and got something to eat and then went to sleep. We thought, hoped, that we would be awakened with a dispatch, but we slept through the night.

We hung around for a while the next day before finally getting a load that was going to Wilkes Barre, PA. This was a short load that didn’t pay very much, but at least we were moving.

So we picked up and delivered that load without any glitches and we were done and parked by bedtime. So once again we waited.

We did get a dispatch just before going to bed for a radioactive load that was going to Alabama. We have never done one of these before so we were very nervous and asked a lot of questions and reminded them that we travel with dogs in case that was an issue. We were told that it wouldn’t be problem, but it turns out that it was and the load had to be given to someone else. Well, there went a really good money load down the pipes. We were frustrated although they did give us some compensation for the cancelled load and we were now the top truck on the load board.

So we went to sleep still hoping for a good load.

When we woke up the next morning we noticed that just beside us was a DOT vehicle and he was performing a vehicle inspection on the truck next to us. We figured that we would be next but he got in his car and drove away.

We made some coffee and got moving around and decided that we would relocate to Allentown in the hopes for a better load opportunity.

We parked at a truckstop not too far away and got showered and was just starting to watch more videos when we finally got a load offer. It was a good one picking up in New Jersey and going to Arden, NC (one of our favorite places.)

We were dispatched on the load and drove over to our pickup which was just outside of New York City. It was a good time of day to drive in with little traffic but on the way out it was “rush hour” and we sat.

It took us a good while to get through all that but we did and then we were on the open roads and moving along.

We got to Arden by the next morning. It was now Thursday and we have only had two fair paying loads and one short one. We needed a money load.

We waited at the truckstop and within a short time we were offered our money load. It was picking up just 3 blocks from us and was going 2400 miles to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Yippy! We were excited. It wouldn’t deliver until Monday morning so we wouldn’t have to rush either.

Now we relaxed. We ate a good supper, I read my book and Pops played cards with Gypsy. Then we slept like babies knowing we had a load.

The next morning (Saturday) we got up and showered and then drove the 3 blocks to our pickup only to be told by the man there that our load had cancelled. I don’t believe it!

We drove back over to the truckstop and parked in the same spot that we had just left. Once again we got a few dollars for our cancellation and was put back on the top of the load board as number one truck. Whoppee Ding Dong! I was upset.

Discouragement was weighing me down. I was wanting to go home. I do not want to be away from home and away from my family just to sit around truckstops. I want to run. We need to work.

We were downhearted all day and tried to lift each others spirits but it wasn’t working too well. Sadly we went to sleep that night. The only conciliation was that we could attend our “home church” away from home, Westside Christian Church in Spartanburg, SC with our friends, David and Linda Wilson.

We were awakened the next morning by Gypsy even before our alarm clock went off. We had a load opportunity. It was picking up in 1 hour and going to Edmonton, Alberta for Tuesday morning. This was the same load that we had cancel.

So we accepted the load and immediately drove over for pickup. It was a huge spool of cable wire, just one spool. Yesterday it broke and couldn’t go, but now it was ready. So we loaded , took care of all our Canadian paperwork for our border crossing and away we go.

I was happy now. What an emotional rollercoaster. Can that be good for your heart?