new post up on my blog talking about the end of #TruckingLife, #Disability and how I got here, and reiterating some of the boundaries I have now that I am here. I'd appreciate it if folks took a moment out of their Christmas Eve or Khanike to go read. it's quick. http://www.semante.me/2022/12/24/one-door-closes/

the wrecker truck they sent to take my truck to the terminal in Fontana got here.

truck's out on the street. everything is out of it, pretty much.

I'm having more than a few feelings about the end of #TruckingLife and #Disability for me today.

working on emptying the truck out. it's really pretty bittersweet; I've been driving semis for the past five years and it's a huge part of my life that I'm not wholly ready to be done with, but life and disability had other plans. #TruckingLife

Mastodon profile for @wesharman on Twitter. #trucking #truckinglife #trucker #truckerlife

I wonder if there will ever be actually enough truck parking available. wake up to trucks parked in various make-a-spot places throughout the lot.

thankfully this particular truck stop is big enough that doesn't hurt anything or make it difficult to leave. #TruckingLife

me: "I'm shutting down early due to parking availability and will update with a good ETA tomorrow when I get to xyz place."

dispatch: "okay have a safe night can you update your ETA?"

me: "…" #SameShitDifferentDay #TruckingLife

enjoying the nicer roads and weather the further south I get today. #TruckingLife

(I did eventually do a lot check and also get an empty trailer. but I also insisted beforehand that I get paid for it, because as a cents per mile driver I don't typically get paid for on duty tasks otherwise.) #TruckingLife

of course, nothing's ever quite that simple and the empty trailer that I was sent over to this drop yard to get… isn't actually here.

and I don't feel like traipsing around the slightly sub-freezing weather to look and see what else is empty. #SameShitDifferentDay #TruckingLife

got an empty assigned, time to stop faffing around on the internets and go to work. #TruckingLife

the load I'm picking up today is not that. some customers just don't have the capacity to have extra 53' trailers sitting around their property at any given time, so they live load/unload freight.

that's what I'm doing today. #TruckingLife

some of the freight is already loaded on the trailer by the shipper, and you get there and drop your empty trailer and pickup your loaded trailer or vice versa if it's at the consignee end of the trip instead of the shipper.

that's called drop and hook (predictably) and it's great. #TruckingLife

trying to find and then get an empty trailer assigned, always fun. #TruckingLife

so, total tally is that given the weather, it took me 4 hours to drive 155 miles, plus two breaks during that. one to fuel, one to eat lunch. safely made the split, glad I don't have to drive in more of that. #TruckingLife

the road got a lot better once I got to Utah.

that being said, the best advice for winter driving that I can give?

if you don't have to go anywhere, stay home.

doubly so for long distance trips. the fewer people on the road, the safer it is for the big trucks who do have to be out there.

check the road conditions before you go and along the way, because conditions can change rapidly during a #WinterStorm such as #WinterStormDiaz. #PSA #PublicServiceAnnouncement #SafetyFirst #TruckingLife

a lot of the phrases we use in the #Transportation industry and #Trucking seem trite.

but I'm glad I parked tonight. #SafetyFirst means:

no load is worth a life.

if they needed it today they still need it tomorrow.

it gets there when it gets there.

anyway, it's snowing again here in #Wyoming and I'm nice and warm and comfortable in my truck. this'll get there tomorrow. or whenever it gets there. #TruckingLife

furthermore, #Wyoming has decided to be Wyoming.

I was originally trying to get to the split destination for this load and beat the winter storm, as signs and forecast weren't saying hazardous conditions until early this evening.

the #Weather forecast was wrong, and the blowing snow and resultant low visibility? #SafetyFirst won, and I've parked my ass at a truck stop for a while. we'll see if it lets up. #TruckingLife

WYDOT has misspelled hazardous as hazardots on some of the road signs today. #TruckingLife #Wyoming

just finished having dinner. I ended my day with nine minutes left of hours of service and have a few full days of driving ahead of me, plus finals.

thankfully even a full day of driving is less work than I did today. #TruckingLife

that was, in fact, one of the world's quickest unloads once I managed to park the truck where they wanted it. but now I'm done, and sitting parked on the side of the road trying to get a hold of dispatch and the phone system keeps hanging up on me. #SameShitDifferentDay #TruckingLife