Hanging Out In Georgia

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pipetrucker

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 13, 2010
937
1
Following the white rabbit
Today finds me in Jackson, GA. I delivered a military trailer to a base in Kentucky on Thursday, and then a military vehicle to Ft Benning, GA yesterday.
The entire trip I was juggling my on duty hours to make sure I could get the Ft Benning vehicle delivered by the Friday deadline. It is going to be used for some urban warfare training next week.
Regulations require that we not exceed 11 hours of driving in a day, 14 consecutive hours of work time, or 70 hours of work time in an 8 day period. I have been bumping up against the 70 hour rule for the past several days and have had to cut my work days short, get up early, and run with whatever hours I had remaining in order to make my schedule. It's a real pain, but rules are rules and the penalties for exceeding the service hours are heavy these days.
I thought about just taking the weekend off so I could get in a 34 hour break, which would reset my hours back to a full 70, but decided that I would rather do so back up in Wisconsin where I could have the APU on my truck repaired while I take the down time. The air conditioner isn't working very well at the moment and really needs to be repaired.
After running the APU for a couple of hours last night I started smelling diesel fuel and got out to check on it. The APU was leaking fuel pretty badly so I shut it down, grabbed my tools and flashlight, and tracked down the leak. It only took a few minutes to repair the leak and I had it back up and running again in no time.
There is a little bar and grill next to the truck stop here, and it is the only indoor smoking establishment here, so I spent some time there last night. They also serve breakfast so I wandered in there this morning for some coffee and a smoke. I always enjoy a smoke with my coffee so it was a no brainer.
I am now waiting around to load some electrical switches about 30 miles from here. I spoke with the guy this morning, hoping I could get in there and get loaded early. He said they wouldn't be ready to load until this afternoon and I should call him around lunch time to set up a firm loading time.
I really wanted to get rolling early, mostly due to the pesky hours of service situation, but it is what it is. I'll use some of the waiting time this morning to do some laundry in the truck stop.

 

portascat

Lifer
Jan 24, 2011
1,057
3
Happy Hunting Grounds
Hmm, I think that would be a bus driver? LOL
many jobs have their initial romantic impressions. I drive to work at 3-4 AM in the morning, and it is mostly trucks on the road at that hour. Sometimes it seems like it would be fun to just be going places all the time, delivering this and that.
Obviously, it has its periods of frustration, boredom, discomforts, etc.
As a side note, I saw a fellow turn a truck completely 180 degrees, from a turning lane, in a relatively small intersection, the other day. The traffic was heavy, all ways, and he did it in one smooth motion, in just a matter of seconds. Didn't hold up any traffic, and did it quick enough that the people behind him could still make the turn.
I thought it was one of the coolest things I had seen in a while.

 

portascat

Lifer
Jan 24, 2011
1,057
3
Happy Hunting Grounds
I work as a Correctional Officer. I am sure lots of folks think of various movies, lots of fights, danger, etc.
Mostly it is feeding inmates, counting inmates, dealing with extremes of temperature all shift long, office politics, trying to solve a multitude of problems presented by inmates with minimal resources and a lack of supervisory support, and occasionally having to stop in the middle of some inane task to run across the unit to catch the end of a cussing somebody was getting and haul someone away in hand restraints for some reason that is only vaguely clear.
On the exciting days you get to smell OC or CS and burn a lot.

 

puffy

Lifer
Dec 24, 2010
2,511
98
North Carolina
My son is a trucker,so I know what you're saying.Now and thenI pick him up when he gets home time.I can hardly believe how close the trucks are are parked to each other.I'ts hard to believe that these trucks are backed into those tight spots.It's amazing how well you fellas can handle those big trucks.

 

pstlpkr

Lifer
Dec 14, 2009
9,694
31
Birmingham, AL
:worship:
Mason, I quite enjoy living vicariously through your stories.
Me too, but never really wanted to be one. (Sounded too much like "hard" work. :D )

I love hard work... I can sit and watch it all day.
Just be safe Mason, we are all enriched by your posts.

Our great nation couldn't function without you guys.

Thanks

 

unclearthur

Lifer
Mar 9, 2010
6,875
5
As a young fella I worked in truck stops a good bit. That cured me of wanting to drive a truck for a living. I still have huge amounts of respect for the guys who haul our goods.

 
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