Getting fingered in Slowhio... (coarse language!)

The following is a letter to an asshole:

To A Gentleman in a Grey Pickup Truck Who Passed Me Near Cincinnati This Morning:

I was in the passing lane doing 63 (in a big rig, that's speeding in Ohio!) going around traffic that was moving just a little bit slower so it took a little while. Should have been pretty easy to understand. After I overtook the vehicles, I moved over to the right lane and watched traffic pass me. You were second in line, and you flipped me off as you drove past.

There really is no delicate way to put this, so I'll be blunt: WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE?? If you're pissed off because I was holding you up by only going 63 even though my truck will certainly exceed that speed, might I remind you that your beef is with your idiot Ohio lawmakers who mandated that the speed limit for trucks be set at 10mph below the rest of the traffic. That is, 55mph when everyone else gets to go 65mph. I was doing 63mph, which was pushing it. Given Slowhio's reputation for harassing truckers, I wasn't going to risk a speeding ticket just for your convenience. I was also not about to sit behind traffic moving slower than me.

In addition to this, was that two or three minutes really that important to you? Were you that late to be somewhere? If that was the case, I have no sympathy for you. I did not cause you to leave home without ample time to get to your destination. If you were running late, the fault lies entirely with you. So again, don't pin your idiocy on me.

I'm a professional driver, and I do my best to be a courteous driver. You could certainly help out my cause by being a little more patient and willing to share the road. Instead, you chose to be an asshole. For that, I pity your parents. Fuck you.

Love,

Rodger

Delivering in Delaware...

Here I sit, waiting for this Wal-Mart distribution center to finish unloading my trailer. The drive through Maine yesterday was quite pleasant and relaxing, and everyone at the shipper sounded like comedian Bob Marley. I'm not kidding there.

Of course, things turned crappy once I got back to Massachusetts and got worse in Connecticut. Friggin' Northeasterners need to learn how to drive. They don't seem to understand a few basic concepts such as:

• Every lane change contributes to backed up traffic. Multiple lane changes by the same care compounds the problem.
• When entering the highway, you're supposed to be a freeway speed BEFORE you get to the end of the ramp.
  
• Traffic already on the highway has the right of way. These bastards push their way in like you wouldn't believe. Again, adding the backup.

Things deteriorated really quickly as I approached New York. Apparently, a tree decided to fall on the highway and this caused a nine mile backup to the last service plaza in Connecticut. Joy.

I took my break in New York's retarded, evil brother, New Jersey. Actually, New Jersey wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the people living there, but that's a whole other essay (or rant). In any case, I stayed at the Vince Lombardi service plaza. If I had more time, I would have taken a shuttle into NYC to poke around a bit because there's a LOT of truck parking there and I've never really seen NYC in any meaningful way. Just I95 and JFK airport. Some other time, though.

I'm preplanned to go to Chicago next. While I'm no fan of Chicago traffic, it beats the crap out of what I've been dealing with this week. This load also is another piss-poor payer, not even $1.00/mile. But there are two things that are making up for it:

• My expenses are already paid this week (and then some!), so all the profit goes directly to my bank account
• I'm getting the HELL out of the northeast!!

The bad news is that unless my fuel optimizer has a better solution, I have to go brave Washington, DC. Ugh.

Maine...

Delivered my load in Lewiston, Maine tonight. Created myself a parking spot at a nearby truck stop, and hopefully they won't bother me about it while I'm sleeping. I'm past my 14 hours for the day and I'm exhausted. I really don't need to be hunting up another spot in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I'm preplanned to pick up a load of nonrefrigerated goods in Wilton, ME for delivery in Delaware on Saturday. The pay sucks for this load, but that's the freight in Maine for you. You get paid well coming in, crap on the way out.

By the way, I still hate driving in New England. What's the deal with all those toll roads? What are they doing with all the money they collect on those? I know what they're NOT doing - paving the roads. Or even modernizing the cash boxes so that they don't create traffic jams. Open road tolling a la Chicago would be a really nice way to use some of that money.

New England...

Driving in New England sucks. I don't know how people do it day in and day out. I'd refuse loads in an out of there, but they pay too well. I wish freight rates would switch for the northwest and the northeast, because driving out there is far preferable. Oh, and you haven't seen traffic jams until you've gone to Pennsylvania, New York, or New Jersey. Traffic jams of breathtaking scope. And lots of road construction. Just resurfacing. They're not doing anything useful like widening the roads like everyone else is doing. Basically, they're just making sure that you crawl along slowly on somewhat smoother roads.

That's my rant for the day.

I start today in Zanesville, OH after a murderous run on little two-lane state highways through southern Ohio. Get to Pittsburgh, PA, where I faithfully follow Prime's fuel optimizer and take PA28 up to I80. It was fine until it went down to two lanes, and then it degenerated into another twisty turny hilly mess. Like Slowhio, but more road construction. Finally, I make it to I80 and crawl through its various traffic jams. I got fuel at the Sapp Bros. in Clearfield where I was surprised to find that they were having a barbecue for truckers. For trucker appreciation week, apparently. Whatever they're calling it, it was free grub. Much appreciated, y'all.

Tomorrow, I get to blast through New York (thankfully not the city this time!), Connecticut, and a couple of other states on my way to Maine.

Posting Again!

Yeah, yeah. Once again, I've become lazy and haven't kept this thing up to date. Still going strong with Prime.

Started out in York, NE this morning and got a "check engine" light and the engine started running crappy in the middle of Omaha. Nice. Got it to the TA in Council Bluffs and found that my fuel filter is clogged and I'm getting EGR codes from the engine. The fuel filter got changed, and now the engine is running better. I'll have the EGR fixed later when I have time.

This fiasco put me about 2 hours behind, so I rolled up to my consignee in Valparaiso, IN about 1.5 hours late (had the appointment changed, so no service fail!). Was a long and rough day, and I'm done. Should get a load home tomorrow.