Gi-Gi Roxx - The Ravings of a Lunatic

Taking a few minutes to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. I spent quite a few turkey day's over-the-road, eating dinner along side the many other drivers working through the holiday. I celebrated in company terminals or truck stop restaurants for the past three years. While it was not the best way to spend one of my favorite family holidays, but it wasn't too bad either. But I am ever so thankful to be home this year. So to those of you still out there trucking today, Thank you.

Today I opted to fall off of my non-soda drinking wagon. And much to my surprise, I was greatly disappointed in my choice of carbonated, sugary beverage. So much so, that I found myself craving water like I've never craved it before. Interesting really. It's also my first day off work for the week. Loving it. The day off. The job, not so much. I'm actually kinda finding that I'm disappointed with my choice of career change. It's not that the job isn't what I expected. Actually it is pretty much exactly what I expected. However, I didn't expect to hate it so much. Don't get me wrong, I'm not quitting, giving up, throwing in the towel, whatever you wanna call it. I'm gonna stick to it and get through it. I might even find that eventually I'll learn to like it. But for right now, I'm definitely questioning my ability to make sound life changing decisions in the career end of the life spectrum. *sigh* I'm also finding that I ge...

Okay, work update (then the good stuff). After posting the last entry I headed to work to find the safety team still in full force at the depot. Little did I know I would be spending the day with one of them in the jump seat of the bulk truck as I ran a route. Lucky for me the guy and I got a long pretty well, had pleasant conversation, absorbed a few safety lessons along the way, and shared a hilarious moment watching a troupe of local homeless folks who were, while drunk and disorderly, acting like clowns (likely unintentionally). The day did go pretty well, I actually ran a full route for the first time since being solo and with the safety guy along, I learned a lot more about my job requirements and things I can do to make my life easier while on route. End of the day came, we all parted ways dreading the 6 am wake up Wednesday morning for the big all-hands-on-deck safety meeting we were gonna be having. The meeting wasn't all that awful. Just your basic safety stuff, video...

Well I'm now midway through my first officially solo work week. And so far it's already gone pretty terribly. Sunday I started out at a bright and early 6 am, loaded up the truck, installed my portable XM radio and hit the road. I headed to Welch, WV for an out of gas service request. For those of you unfamiliar with this bright little gem in southern WV, it's literally in the middle of no where. And from Charleston, in a commercial vehicle, it takes about 3 hours to get there. The ride was enjoyable, twisting and turning through some lovely scenic areas. I arrived to find the stop in need of service big time. They had called us the night before claiming to be out of gas. But the odd part was that they have a 750 lb tank that we'd just filled less than 4 days before. Doing my visual inspection of the tank before I began the filling process I found that they were still pretty much full, but the pressure on the system had dropped below operating levels. My first s...

Welp, the big boss made it down this week. He actually arrived unannounced yesterday morning. But I didn't find out until I was pulling back into the parking lot (alone) in one of the company box trucks after a long day of driving around in southwestern WV yesterday evening. As I crested the hill and turned on my left turn signal I saw his vehicle parked beside the shop. Oh crap! Here I was pulling in, driving solo, without having had done my final ride along. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed my shop boss, who'd taken the day off. "Dude, big boss man is here, WTF do I do now... I just pulled in, ALONE?" I spat out, panicked. "Oh man, I dunno, good luck!" he replied, half joking... half empathetic. I decided it was best to go in, beaming a smile, putting off positive vibes and do my best to kill him with kindness. It seemed to be unnecessary since I found him in a rather incredible mood. We didn't exchange more than greetings and simple pleasantries...

So my three days' off were great. Fun filled and adventurous, as my life always seems to be these days. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say I had a pretty good 72 hours. Sunday morning was the best end to a good run of great days too. Guess what Gi-Gi did? Yep, she started talking in the third person AND she ran a company truck all by her lonesome, all day. It was pretty much awesome. And I totally needed it for a morale boost, as many of you could tell from my last few posts of doom, gloom and despair. I was just soooo tired of having to hang out with a babysitter all day while on the job. My training was supposed to be three weeks, and all because of one guy it turned into over 4 weeks (and technically still counting). Even though my direct boss has set me free and said I'm good to go the big boss will a llegedly be down on Wednesday to "certify" me and "officially" release me for solo work. Of course, no one has heard from him since he...