June 13, 2008. Some snails are slower than others. Lots slower.

Up at the crack of Oh-dark-mygod. 04:00. I agreed to this? I need to call my shrink.

Trainer drove this morning - he's getting bored sitting in the B seat. Besides, my 10 hour ain't up yet, so I've not recovered the hours for today. On the way down into SLC, passed the remains of an Old Dominion rig. Had been hauling doubles (of course), but about 5 miles west of Wanship, tractor caught fire and burned completely. Nothing left but metal bits. Looks to have gutted the front trailer, too.

Cold outside (well, cold for most folk). Ice all over the road from where the local fire department had tried to extinguish the blaze. Since there was nothing left to burn, it seems they were less than successful. Police and wrecker on scene. No ambulance, so I hope the driver is ok.

Arrived at consignee at about 05:40 for our 06:00 appointment. About 10 trucks lined up at the gate - most of the drivers asleep. Truck sized hole in the middle of the line - so we took it. Plugged in at the dock by 06:00.

Place uses lumpers (go figure) who apparently offload a pallet, and then sort the contents. They're not done at 09:00. Not likely we're gonna be late for our next appointment (all day window), but gonna be pretty late when we get back to Denver.

Gate opened at 05:45 - and I like the system. Call in from the gate with your company name and load number. They assign you a dock and oopen the gate for you. Went to hell from there. Was checking in at S&R office. Guy comes up to me and asks "you guys hiring?". Hell, I don't know.. I say so, and suggest he call the main office. He goes "no, are you hiring?" WTF? "He means, 'do you need lumpers?'" - a voice from beyond the office security glass. Well, duh! OK - got that squared away. They had us unloaded about three hours from that point (call it 10:00) Then we sat there for another 4 hours while the office dicked around with our paperwork. Trainer made sure they were dinged for demurrage on that one.

Buzzed over to get new load - 42000 pounds of drywall mud.. or something like it, in 5 gallon pails. Took HWY 6 across Utah to I-70. Beautiful drive, but slow. If it wasn't the grades, it was the assholes in 4-wheelers and RVs. One 4-wheeler would periodically stop and see if the picnic area next to the highway had room for him. No problem, except the asshole kept stopping in the middle of the road.

Made it back to Denver at about 01:00. Rough road up near the Eisenhower tunnel - spilled my water all over my bunk, so I had no place in the truck to sleep. Watched TV in the driver's lounge for a few hours. Managed a nap before wifeoid picked me up on the way home from her shift.

Week off while Trainer takes his days off and deals with some odds and ends.