I'm not quite certain how far west because it was late last night and I was too tired to venture into that wonderful city. I have to venture in this morning because I need a blood test. I've picked out a clinic and hopefully they'll be willing to help a trucker in need. What I really hope is there'll be parking for the big rig somewhere close to the clinic. I don't have a lot of time to drive all over Fargo looking for a place to park the big rig so I can get some blood drawn.
Last night as
Moses Lake is an odd little city in the middle of the Columbia Basin. It is also an actual lake; technically a reservoir when Crab Creek was damned in 1900 for irrigation purposes. That original reservoir is much bigger today because of the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project. I spent the night here and will be heading east within the hour. Back in the mid-Eighties I applied for a typesetting position here with a small webpress, but didn't get it because they hired a guy from Wenatchee. It was a
I've always considered 13 to be a lucky number for me mostly because I was born at 11:30 p.m. Another thirty minutes and I'd have been an August 14th baby, but that was not to be as my mother had been in labor since the 10th of August. I've heard labor in an agonizing experience and I'm glad I didn't have to go through it. Depositing my seed in the proper recepticle was a lot more fun, even though at the time I was probably imagining it was Robert Redford who was the receiver.
Don't ask me w
Today's blood test came back with an INR of 2.2 meaning the Warfarin is at a therapeutic level in my blood, which also means no more Enoxaparin shots in the belly. Yaay!
Yet, I'm distracted.
So far I've written just over a page on Chapter 15.
Not a lot, but you see I'm distracted.
CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
Severe and extraordinary,
Chest Pain Shortness of Breath Dizziness Headache
Any of the above means the blood clot or a piece of it
I'm a bit down right now and not because of the depression. During this last time out my left leg swelled up like something I didn't want attached to my body. Well, it was a pain, too. So, yesterday afternoon I called the consulting nurse at our clinic and told her my symptoms. She said, "You need to go into urgent care at 3:00 when they open because they might need to do an ultrasound."
Ultrasound?
Yeah, of my left leg to check the blood flow of the veins. Needless to say, the nice youn
It's a truck stop southeast of Boise, ID, that I usually stop at going either east or west on I-84. I have an 0500 delivery appointment tomorrow morning in the Portland, OR, area (453 miles away). Then I get to sit for a spell before delivering the rest of the load to customers south and north of Seattle Monday morning. I like multi-stop loads because we get paid for the extra stops. This load brings in $65 in extra stop pay. Every little bit helps when it now takes nearly $65 to fill up the min
I got out of the Metroplex without being burnt to a crisp. God, it was hotter than hooey down there. Well, not at hot as, say Phoenix or Barstow, but hot. It was an oppressive heat that pushed down on you. In the desert it is hot, but it's more scorching or searing. The heat moves around and through you as it goes onto the next person. The heat during the past few day was personal. It was your heat. Your's alone.
One good thing about the heat was I was able to finish Chapter 14, which means
I was trying to come up with a witty entry about "Three Broads" I ran into in the past few days, but I've got to go pick up a new load in a few and can't stay on topic for any length of time. Okay, the first "broad" is my favorite: the French Broad River in Tennessee and North Carolina, mostly in TN though. It's the name. French Broad sounds so erotic, so Rita Hayworth or seductive like Ingrid Bergman. Makes me try to imagine Burt Lancaster or Humphrey Bogart, a baguette, a bottle of cheap wine,
The Canadians lit up the Northern Lights (for you Spelling Bee enthusiasts and college graduates, the Aurora Borealis) last night. I know because I was driving across North Dakota at the time of the big show, around midnight. Actually I haven
As I've said in previous blogs, there's no beach in Beach, ND. Other than the sky blue water tower, there's no substantial body of water to have a beach. I suspect it was someone named Beach who designated this little bit of America's Siberia to be a beach. It's been reported that some winters in ND are so cold diesel fuel gels and the trains stop running. I believe that because just across the border to the north is Canada and everyone knows how cold Canadians are. You'd be cold too if it never
Okay, so I didn't get home before the Fourth.
I was here on the Fourth, though.
But, I didn't get three consecutive days off. I had to deliver my load on Monday and Tuesday.
I was ready to go back to work yesterday, giving up a day of time-off just to get back on the road, but there wasn't a load to be had anywhere in all of Washington or northern Oregon.
So, tonight at 2300 I pick up a load going to Illinois. It'll mean a lot of night driving through elk and deer country. Just w
Yesterday when I was driving up US-550 toward Durango, CO, I saw what looked like a small rottweiler puppy lying beside the highway. There isn't a breakdown lane in that stretch so the little doggy was lying in a narrow, a tire's width, space between the pavement and the weedy shoulder. I imagined Mom moving the kids the previous night and little Pokey trying to keep up before the next car came careening down the highway. It was probably too dark and the driver was probably distracted by the mot
Last night as I was driving here (Clarksville, AR) I saw a deer standing in the grass beside the interstate. It was not looking into the oncoming headlights, but away from them. I thought that was rather clever for the stupid, hairy, suicidal beastie.
They run out in front of cars and trucks. The question isn't "Why did the chicken cross the road?" It is "Why did the deer cross the road?" There's grass on their side. They don't need to go to the other side to get food.
And, why is it peo
Way back when the pioneers were slogging their way into the Platte River valley from Kansas, they found a large island in the river, hence the name. Back then, it was a great big island, twenty-three miles long. What's that, a day on a horse? The US Army determined the up stream end of the island would be the perfect location for a fort. Of course, the Platte River was, at the time, known for being "a mile wide and an inch deep," but there was an island in the middle of it and an island is alway
Back to work . . . well, sort of.
I left home yesterday morning headed to Salinas, CA, with an empty trailer to pick up a load headed for a grocery distribution center somewhere in America. Then yesterday afternoon as I was approaching the end of my run for the day I received a new destination, Riverside, CA. So, I wasn't going to pickup salad, after all. It's not that I don't like hauling salad, but I don't like going to Salinas. You can't like everywhere and Salinas is one of my nowheres.
Weatherby isn't much more than a Rest Area on I-84 and a siding on the UP mainline to Portland/Seattle (a mixed freight is chugging up the hill right now).
So, why am I writing this entry?
I'm supposed to leave in 15 minutes. (It's now 15 minutes ago; been writing for a bit.)
I'm goin to be home tonight. Yipee!
Bonita will pee with excitement.
The wife will get a hug and a peck on the lips. She might complain about my lack of romantic involvement. I love her, but not THAT way
I'm at a pork processing plant waiting to be invited in to get my load. I've been here since 0700 this morning. I was a little late due to weather, but it's been six hours of waiting so far.
And, time not wasted either.
I finished Chapter 8 and sent Chapter 6 to the elves for processing. I suspect Chapter 6 will not go over very well. It deals with sexual situations that have not been too popular here at GA. Oh, well, such is life as seen through dirty lenses.
The only constant thing
I've been getting around quite a bit lately. No long trips, which pay gobs of money. Just short day trips that you hope to have enough to add up to a paycheck. The drawback is I don't have extra time. I'm busier than heck for 11 to 14 hours and then all I want to do is sleep so I can do the same thing the next day.
Finally, I've been given a breather. I delivered this morning and don't pick up my next load until tomorrow morning. Then it's a long four days west. It looks like I might make it
Yesterday, as I was driving down I-35 from Iowa I couldn't get someone out of my mind. Usually, or rather the past few days, I've been going over The Artists and where each of the characters are going, but yesterday it seemed my mind was fascinated about this one real person.
The hard part is that this person actually isn't a part of my life. I have very few people who are in my life so I tend to get clingy when someone gets close. Not everyone mind you, just the ones I'm interested in, mind
Back in the early days when computers were just beginning to talk, the company I worked for (major telecommunications provider in the Western US) had one that had a bad database. It could say "Iowa" when "IA" had been entered, "Washington" when "WA" had been entered, but in the beginning it had a bit of trouble with "OR, MT, and NE" which came out "Or, Mount, and Northeast," respectively. As the various upgrades took place the mistakes were eventually fixed, except for "NE". That system never se
I really screwed up a couple days ago. My dispatcher is giving me a shitty load to make up for it. Being late is a big no-no and I could've said, "Uh, I shouldn't have taken this load because I don't have the time to complete it." I could've of said, "You know, I'm going to be late tomorrow because I shouldn't have taken this load because I don't have the time to complete it on time."
But, no, I did not do that.
I waited until I could make my dispatcher very, very pissed at me.
Okay
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