Sitting in Kansas City, Missouri.

Okay, I'm still struggling with the concept of Kansas City being in Missouri, and not in Kansas. I know that there's a Kansas City in Kansas, but it's not the one they sing about. Does anyone else find that odd?

Anyway, we're stuck again. Oddly enough, huh?

We were supposed to pick up a load last night at 23:00. But we were still sitting there at 09:30 this morning, when the security guard made us leave. It's now 13:27, and we're no closer to getting into a dock, much less getting loaded. C____ Distribution seems to be staffed by complete idiots. Who but idiots would call a trucking company to arrange for the pickup of a load that is not ready, and which couldn't be loaded if it were because there are six trucks sitting in the docks already with trailers that have been empty since we arrived last night, and which have not had a single fucking skid put on them?

I would have already raised total hell, but this is such a good run. Man, I want this run. But if it takes much longer, I'm going to ask to be reassigned. This run goes to California (San Raphael, with a stop in San Jose). All around San Francisco. I'd love to make this run. But shit. Does U.S. Xpress really expect me to sit here for two fucking days waiting on it?

Okay. Don't answer that question. I know. I know. Who are we talking about here? Well, shit.

On the upside, the location of the warehouse itself is very cool. It's in a complex called Subtropolis, which is underground. So, yes, we're driving around a 65' truck in a cave. Myself, I think whoever came up with the idea of putting warehouses underground, in what looks to have been a mine, so that full-size tractors with 53' trailers have to squeeze through spaces that are sometimes tight for cars, is, well, an idiot. But it's cool. One of the most interesting spaces we've been in.

Okay. Lemme think. Any other news? Maybe I should fill in the blanks first.

My last entry mentioned El Paso. Well, we got the load, and went to El Paso. And from there, we went to California. From California to Kent, Washington (this time we took time to go and see Seattle). From Washington, we came back across Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Illinios, Indiana, and into Ohio. The load was supposed to deliver in Virginia, but they made us go by the Medway terminal. See, we got received word while we were in Kent that our truck had been “pulled for trade.” Retired, in other words.

So, we're not in our dear Perdita anymore. Truck #7700 has been retired from service. So now we're in an automatic (#X0121). We were forced to change over in Medway, Ohio, because USX lied to us and didn't get us back to Tunnel Hill like they promised. I could have gotten a better truck if I could have gotten to Tunnel Hill. Anyway, we drove this truck for about a week before it crapped out on us. It woke us up one night, billowing smoke and sounding like three or four cats were having it out in the engine. We were in Hagerstown, Maryland, and just happened to be at a truck stop across from a Freightliner. So we hobbled across the road. Shit, we wound up spending a whole week in Hagerstown, stuck in a motel room. Needless to say, we didn't make any money that week.

That week wasn't all bad. It was an unexpected vacation. And while we were in no position to make much of it, we did get to relax a bit. We went to the movies at the mall across from the Motel 6 and watched X-Men. We bought some books and things. And we ate at a cool restaurant called the Crazyhorse Steakhouse & Saloon. It came highly recommended by the mechanics who worked on the truck. And since those are our kind of people, we decided to check it out. It was interesting. For starters, they brought out a metal bucket full of peanuts. And when you shelled your peanuts, you were supposed to toss them on the floor. Gimmicky, I know. But it was a nice change of pace from the fast-food joints in the mall across from the motel. We ate some rattlesnake cakes, and we both had buffalo steak. Yes, we went the whole yuppie-living-on-the-edge nine yards, and we drank a good bit of beer. It was nice to get out for an evening, away from the truck, and the nudgings and proddings of the USX drones. Hell, by the time the truck had been fixed, we were almost beginning to think of ourselves as human beings again.

Since then, we haven't done much. We got a load going down to Eastern North Carolina, and from there we brought a load to Kansas City, which is where we are currently stuck.

So there. You're updated.

We've decided to stay out until September, to make up for that week we lost in Hagerstown. That means that by the time we get home again, we will not have been home for three months. I dare some son-of-a-bitch at U.S Xpress to give me any shit when I demand, and take, a full week off. I don't think words can convey how much I've come to hate those little shits, who sit in their air-conditioned rooms in front of their computers and poke and prod at drivers for eight or ten hours, and then go home to a nice, comfortable bed and a dinner that doesn't include a barely edible roast beef sandwich from some dive of a truck stop. Gods, I hate this life. Mainly because we're not getting anything out of it. We're paying some bills, and we've managed to do some good things. But we're not really getting ahead.

To top it all off, Mara has decided that she wants to drive. She's already talked to USX about being trained at Medway. So I guess fairly soon we'll be running as a team, and I'll be locked into this bullshit for another year. She'll never know how badly I needed to think that this nightmare would be over at the end of the year. And now, to know that it's only going to be beginning again. Man. It's a lot to think about. Or too much to think about. I haven't decided yet.

On the upside, though, I have to admit that we'll make a shitload of money as a team. Especially since we don't have any bills, such as house/land/car payments, etc. If we drive team for a year, we'll be standing on pretty good legs at the end of it. And that, if nothing else, will make an extra year worth it. But I imagine I'll still be looking forward to the day that I can tell U.S. Xpress and not-so-fond “farewell, and fuck you!”

Ah! We all have to dream!