Gi-Gi Roxx - The Ravings of a Lunatic

I have been on vacation since Tuesday of last week, spending my time off so far camping and hanging out with a great group of friends in the North Carolina mountains. The rest of my time will be spent here at the house, catching up with family and friends in the area. I'll be back on the road Monday the 6th!

Not quite sure what I'm gonna end up blogging about. Probably my usual daily minutiae and random nonsense. I could complain that I am STILL in Texas, that it's still hot as ballz, that I'm tired of sweating... but that's just not my style today (or is it?). I should tell you about getting cornered by a security guard at a shipper this morning. The man, of latin descent, blocked my path to the shipping/receiving check in area so he could tell me what a shame it was that such a beautiful person such as me felt compelled to deface my body with tattoos and piercings. He then went on to ask me why I did it and when I gave him my usual response of "I can't give you a reason that you would appreciate or understand" he clicked his tongue, shook his head and gave off a general pose of disappointment. He then continued to speak and tell me that God may never forgive me for marking up his temple and promptly proceeded to hand me several religious tracts before f...

I do NOT recommend running out of hours in Texas... in June... during a heatwave. O M G it's hot! I am trying to maintain a minimal idling cycle, 30 min. on, 1 hr off... but it's not helping. Within 5 minutes of shutting the engine off it's up to 85+ degrees inside the truck. This sucks. I'm also trying to maintain control of my insane craving for going into the truck stop to buy every last ounce of ice cream they have in the coolers. That's a tough one. Almost as tough at my fast food battle a couple days ago, which I won in favor of my monthly pledge against fast food. I was dying for a Big Mac... I was at a truck stop which just so happened to have a Micky D's... with the encouragement of a friend, and a little self administered tough love, I overcame the urges to get the burger and fries and shake I so desired. I just had my next work assignment come across the Qualcomm... seems I don't get to escape TX just yet! I'll be picking up nearby and h...

Ugh, Texas... Summer... Heatwave. Blah. I was walking across the truck stop parking lot... I thought I'd stepped in gum. Nope, when I checked my soles I found no affixed foreign ickyness. Apparently, the blacktop part of the parking lot was just so hot that it made my rubber soles stick to the ground. UGH! On my way to my delivery destination today Trucky was attacked by a suicidal mourning dove, again. What is it with mourning doves anyway? Is their life really so bad that they have to fly into the path of oncoming traffic so as to end their lives via windshield? Poor things. I also saw a young calf romping around with another young calf... they were both bouncing around and running into each other. It was cute. Sad to know that before too long they'll be just like their much less active older relatives before finding their way to the slaughter house. Mmmm...steak. I had the perfect pizza sub from a Subway today. When I get a hankering for a pizza sub I always wonder ...

My trip to Nogales, AZ took me through some new territory as far as my truck driving career goes. I'd not been in the southern parts of both NM and AZ with Trucky since I've started this adventure. So it was a pleasant experience. I had yet to traverse the I-10 corridor from Las Cruces, NM to Tuscon, AZ. I'd done it years ago when I lived in Alamogordo, NM when I went to visit friends who had gotten transferred to Davis Montham AFB. The route I took ran me down through my old neighborhood in Alamogordo, NM, although they'd built a bypass since I lived there, which I took instead of going through downtown. I could tell there's been a bit of growth since I lived there, but overall it's still the same ol' Alamogordo. It was actually quite an emotional drive-thru for me and I bet that if I'd gone through downtown, I'd have had to pull over and pull it together. I have a lot of fond memories of the time I spent there and they flooded my brain as I drove t...

So far this year I've managed to avoid "tornado" season. I've been in a few areas where there were a few watches, but no real warnings, as the meteorological world refers to the immediate danger of an actual tornado. Last spring I was dodging them left and right, with one particular near miss in, I believe it was, western Tennessee. Then I got dispatched to pick up a load near Dayton, OH that is bound for Nogales, AZ. The load has so far taken me from one storm system to another. Yesterday as I made my way across I-44 in Missouri I endured some pretty hectic weather and apparently got very lucky when I saw a big storm on the horizon but managed to get by it unscathed. Local radio station reports later confirmed at least two tornado's produced by that storm. Today I continued along I-44 and ran into a very nasty storm west of Oklahoma City, OK which prompted me to have to pull off on the shoulder (which I hate doing) because the wind f'd up my drivers'...

Buffalo - the male version of a lot lizard... aka: prostitute. Pickle Park - Rest area where apparently men are able to easily find someone to "wash their pickle".... code for things that no one really needs elaboration on. :o)

I consider myself lucky to have gotten in the door to the trucking industry when I did. I believe that folks that are inclined to get behind the wheel now might have a harder time due to the current economic situation, particularly here in the USA. There just don't seem to be as many doors open right now for new, inexperienced drivers. So I count my blessings daily that I made the decision I did, when I did. I have been in correspondence with a few people who are currently or soon to be going through training to get their CDL and a foot in the industry's' door. I really do hope that those with the ambition to get "truckin'" are able to do so. I remember when I made the final decision to make the leap from office and retail jobs to the transportation world. I was nervous, actually more like scared as hell, but anxious to get it all started. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I welcomed the challenge. I studied hard for the written exams and listened...

After waiting for what seemed an eternity, I finally got to leave Bedford, PA with an empty trailer towards my next work assignment. I was dispatched to pick up a load of paper rolls in McCoole, MD to take home and relay with another driver. I was super happy to be rolling homeward and blessed with such beautiful weather for the trip. Once I'd acquired my load, I was finally and truly home bound. I stopped to scale at the relatively new Pilot on I-68 in Maryland where I found I was good to go weight wise. I grabbed a couple of corn dogs and scarfed them down before making the rest of the trip west and south. The trip was slow going with a gross weight of 77,900 lbs. but it was fine by me since the day was so lovely. Crystal blue skies with awesome puffy white clouds. It was swell. I jammed out to the XM radio, switching between "The Pulse" and "Lithium" when the mood struck for current vs. retro tunage. Life was good... When I got close to the end of I-6...