Gi-Gi Roxx - The Ravings of a Lunatic

No, my hope and change is not any of that Obama type nonsense either. It's gonna be real hope and real change and I have a feeling it's coming a lot quicker than I'd imagined. Things have not been looking good from where I've been standing. For the horizon is blurred in almost every direction. I see one clear, bright spot in the distance. I'm gaining momentum, now. And before too long the haze that has been surrounding me will be just a memory. Today marks a great occasion for me personally... I've made a major decision and will be quick to start along a new path, so long as the gate opens when I approach it. No... I won't be leaving my beloved truckin'. So don't fret! If the stepping stones are all in the right places, the future is bright and exciting and full of hope. Stay tuned....

Some follow up questions from anonymous #1: Have you been able to really (restfully) sleep, while at the same time stay enough on alert to sense when something is not quite right? I do sleep soundly pretty much every night in my truck, no matter where I am or what sort of noises surround the truck. My "bat sense" kicks in when there is a sound that is cause for caution or alarm, such as someone touching the truck. I've actually had someone slip and catch themselves on my cab and it woke me from my sleep. I peeked out to see a very embarrassed older gentleman hanging onto my truck for dear life after slipping on ice. And of course, if you're a frequent reader of mine, you know how quickly I get awakened by lot lizards. haha And does your employer allow you to bring a dog (whether or not you personally have chosen to do so?) ( this question also answers Bijou 's question, indirectly I suppose since I opted to use the words of anon instead ) My compan...

"anonymous #1" asks: 1) Do you feel safe when you're sleeping in the rig? When I got the keys and spent my first night alone in my truck I was nervous. I felt vulnerable . Alone. Afraid. I didn't know how easy it might be for someone to break in, and honestly still don't really know. I had visions of x-ray vision glasses and dangerous sex crazed thugs waiting anxiously for me to drift off to sleep so they could break in and violate me. Thankfully my paranoia subsided and I started taking some simple precautions and began to feel safer with each new night. One tip I have for helping increase your "sense of security" is to loop your seat belt thru the door handles and fasten them. Now this does not prevent someone who really wants to get in from getting in, but it does at least provide a hindrance to a criminal, giving you critical time to arm yourself with something and to call 9-1-1. Generally, the criminal would need a knife and narrow, strong arms to...

I have been thinking about opening myself up for questions and inquiry on both a personal and professional level recently. Today I decided I'd go for it. I am opening the floor to you, my readers, to ask me anything. Now, please understand that I have the right to refuse to answer any question I do no feel will be productive or at least entertaining. I am hoping for some really interesting questions, so don't disappoint me! I also would appreciate keeping things G or at least PG, in case there are young impressionable's reading this blog. I am anxious to see what you want to know about me and my life on the road. As questions come in and I have time to answer them, I will post them as individual blogs. So stay tuned... this should get interesting!

After thoroughly enjoying time off, I hit the road once again on Wednesday morning after a bit of a rough start. I arrived at my truck, threw all my crap in the cab and started a pre-trip (yep I still do them). My boyfriend walked along with me like he always does, getting in those last few minutes of quality time before I hit the road for a few weeks. Things were looking great down the drivers side and across the back of the trailer. I started up the passenger side and thought things were peachy keen. Then I thumped my number nine drive tire (right rear inner) to find it flat as a flitter. No air whatsoever was remaining in the tire. CRAP! I was supposed to be picking up a load by 15:00 in a town about an hour away, and it was already 11:00 at this point. I said my g'byes to my sweetie and sent him on his way while I climbed in the truck and dialed our emergency maintenance department to request service. I was surprised that I didn't have to hold for more than 3 minutes to rea...

Shew, finally in the home stretch. I thought it'd never happen. Patience and endurance pays off, I suppose. I woke up this morning sure that it was going to be a great day. And despite the fact that it had a rough start, it did turn out pretty darn well. I arrived at delivery point number two this morning with the remaining rolls of paper to be delivered with fifteen minutes to spare. As my luck would have it, however, the fifteen minutes would be used fighting with a trailer door that wouldn't cooperate and insane wind that coaxed said door into non-cooperation. You see, the trailer had a bum door latch at some point and it was replaced with a mismatched latch and rigged to fasten in place when the doors are closed. However, when one needs to open and secure the doors to be loaded/unloaded the mismatched latch didn't function correctly. The replacement latch was for a door with a standard latch much like the one kinda seen here on the right of the picture. Unfortunately th...

Well the good news is that I will be paid for all of the miles I had to drive to get the load, scale the load, go back to shipper, etc. But it was still not really worth the frustration for me. Plus, now instead of getting home like I was going to on Thursday it'll more likely be Saturday at best. Bah. As far as the weight issue goes, I talked to a couple of other people at the company last night and again today and learned that the load weights out of that particular shipper are common, however, our trucks and trailers are just heavier than most of the carriers that run through there. Most of the trucks coming and going while I was sitting there were day cabs, which are way lighter than our condo conventional cabs. After being emptied out and leaving, I headed back to the scale to see what my rig weighed empty. It was 34,060 at half tank fuel level. The load they wanted to give me was 46,695... do the math.. =80,755. So if our average empty weight is consistently around the...