I was already exhausted and planned on a long nap followed by massive cleaning of the house that I started around the new year but never seemed to finish. I was cat napping with Sydney coming in and out of my room wanting one thing or another. He was watching Jim Carey in his version of Grinch. I do not care for the actor myself and could understand that Jim could not hold the interest of a child for an hour for my siesta. Just as the sandman sprinkled my eyes the phone rang. Boss man said I would have to take another truck instead of mine. He said mine would not start. Last week the relay switch was replaced as it did not want to start only days before. I asked him if he got the note about a tire I wrote up. He said that is how he found out #28 was out of commission.( I noticed a split in the side wall of my tire and that can be dangerous when your loads are consistently 50,000#.) My trailer was already hooked up and the paperwork inside #21.
I dropped Sydney off after I took an insanely long HOT shower.
It was cold last night and inside the truck appeared to be colder than the outside air. I stood outside the truck with the heater inside on high. Outside you ask? Do you want the Arctic air blowing on you? Not I. The first thing I noticed when I opened up the door was that under the clutch I could see the ground. Oh JOY!! This was going to be fun. This was the second time that I was going to drive a 13 speed, who was I to say I had never done it before? Me? oh no- I am the only girl working and I did not want to look weak to my counterparts. "Suck it up and lets go grind some gears", I say. I sat amazed at how the dash was so much different than my normal ride. I figured that so long I knew where the cruise was I was alright. hahahahahahahaha. The panel on the dash was all lit up except for the tachometer, the ONE AND ONLY thing that would help me to know when to shift. I was going on blind faith, I wanted to smoke a cigarette and went to roll down the window. HEL-----LO? Has anybody seen the handle to the window? Oh, it was air powered and the switch was somewhere on the right side of the panel that was NOT lit up with 243 other knobs, the items were all marked in 1/8 inch tall writing that no matter how long the word was it was only going to be 1/4 inch wide in description. I was beginning to think that I should have crawled on my hands and knees before the journey to familiarize myself better or pray.
I began to play with buttons, knobs and other doohickies that I could finger in the dark before I got to the interstate. Somewhere in the few miles I drove I figured I better check out the tach to see what it read, who knows I might even shift by now. By my figuring I should have changed gears at least 3 times before now. By now I really NEEDED a cigarette and was about to hit the shoulder of the road to explore my panel options when I found a light switch.......OH COOL A red cruising light. The right side of the dash was slightly illuminating objects protruding out everywhere. Humm let us see what this one does, grrrrrrrrrrr- nope that's the engine brake, and this one, nothing- but where is that cold air coming from?, oh yeah the floor. This one, blink blink blink ok another light to something outside on the trailer? And this one? wooooooooosh nope that's the engine cooling fan. By now I am asking," Oh Lord please don't let me hit the self destruct button that will make everything fall apart" before I even get to I-40. I must have looked like ET's mother ship coming in for a landing as I went down the narrow 2 lane road wooshing, grinding, and blinking all the colors of the rainbow. I forgot about that 2 way stop in the intersection coming up. No problemo, put it in neutral and start from point A all over again. Heavy sigh*** With a few jerks and grinds of "no thanks" from the fly wheel I was on my way to the interstate. After 7 miles to the interstate my toes were numb. I turned the heater all the way in the red zone and aimed the other switch to the stick figure pointing out the feet and legs. The digital red neon light that stood out like a lighthouse to the left of the dash read 30F.(Outside Temp) However, it neglected to read the wind chill factor on the floor. After an hour that it took to get to Memphis I was still chilled. I put the air on recycle instead of fresh, turned the blower all the way up to 4 and I immediately felt my toes thaw out and start to burn just above my ankle. Great, a microwave for my lower extremities. I never came to a happy medium with the heater all night. As I neared Nashville the temps went all the way to 9 degrees in the hills. Burn, thaw out, Burn, thaw out....
Now I belong to a night owl group but when you are exhausted the nearest tree to hold you up works fine. I was sitting in the enclosed warehouse, temp read 37 degrees.
I went to my full sized bed in the back. No sheets, no pillows, no problem. And this one has a built in alarm clock on the panel by the bed with it's own heater blower functions for me to fight with. Lets see, #4, Red Zone, alarm clock 1 1/2 hours. zzzzzzzzz. I woke to a knock on my door for me to position my back hopper over the grills. The front was graciously opened and emptied by the office plant manager. I felt soo much better. Now round two for another 35 minutes, the time needed to dump the estimated 38,000 lbs in the back. I woke to the alarm that startled me, catapulted into the front where the drink holder console on the floor stopped me dead in my tracks. There is a law somewhere I am sure that you never knock over a diet Coke for fear of years of bad luck. I heard if not felt a slight popping sound come from my body. Whatever it is it was going to hurt. I stood for a second or two to determine what was damaged. I felt fine, good nothings wrong. I sat in my leather seat and swiveled my body to get out.........OH WE HAVE A PROBLEM HOUSTON!!! yeow, pain, not good. I don't do pain well. I took my time and KNEW just what I had done. I pulled a groin muscle in my right crook of my thigh. Pain for diet Coke.....hum? It could have been worth it. Obviously my body was still asleep when I hurled my large frame 3 feet to the front.
I made it back to the yard and took the steps one at a time. This was not a trip I would like to take again. I went to my car, oh, ouch, pain. I laughed at myself at how I had to get in my own SUV. Make a mental note as some day you may need it........Get close to opened door, turn away from the door, bend injured groin leg at knee, set it on floor board, s l o w l y pivot to face door and slide your leg close to pedals as you sit down ( easier said than done ) Once you are in this position you are right as rain. How you get out is totally up to you as I found moans of pain emitting from my mouth on two attempts to get out. As I said before, grind a gear and lets go. Tonight a few motrin followed by a jacuzzi chaser is on the menu.
This wins the Truckers Choice Award. Click to enlarge
