One of those Days

[drcollie]

Been fighting a nasty cold past couple of days. One of those that make your brain not work so hot and the old bod aches all over. I had to go to CT today to meet a cabinentmaker and was feeling really punky, but ya know....have to soldier on. I could bag the trip, but then the weather is supposed to get REALLY cold in the next few days with some snow, so I says...."I'll just go", and keep the heat up in the cab.

Climb in the store truck at 6:30 a.m. and......the battery is dead in the diesel. Cripes, of all the days and times. Well, the truck is 10 years old and they were the original batteries, so I can't complain about lifespan. I drive across town to Interstate Battery which opens at 7 a.m. and get two new ones (wired as a pair in series) the come back to the store to install them. By 8:15 a.m. I'm sitting out by the side of the truck in 24 degree weather, attempting to remove 10 -year old fasteners on the battery box (not very successfully) and my nose is running and I am hating life. COLD! COLD ! COLD!!! Takes an hour and ten minutes to get the new ones installed, a job I could have done in 15 minutes in summer weather and non-corroded fasteners.

So I call my guy and tell him I'm behind by 3 hours. I secretly hope that since its late morning already he will want to bag the trip, but no.... He agrees to come to New York City (an hour south of our meeting spot in CT) and meet at that Vince Lombardi Rest Plaza. So I say I can be there by 2:30 p.m.

Just north of Baltimore tunnel I get waved over coming out of the tolls for a full DOT inspection. OF ALL THE DAYS! They always pick on little trucks. That takes one hour before I am cleared to go. I try to control myself and not agitate the cop, but I am FUMING mad. He takes 20 minutes of the stop to call the state of Virginia to ask why they put the "M" motorcycle qualification in the spot that should have the notation for a regular license!

So now I can't meet him until 3:30 in NYC. Being not happy, I flog the Isuzu all the way and make up 15 minutes, get there at 3:15. Little truck won't go past 72 mph the way its geared so we went that speed all the way up.

We transfer the load , and we both get out of there as fast as we can, keenly aware that NYC/NJ/CT Rush hour starts at 4 p.m. Just got home at 9 p.m. tonight. Was a very long day!

[ranchsooner]

Sorry to hear about your day. It took me 2 hrs to get to work today instead of my normal 25 min commute. Don't understand these MN drivers. I thought they would be good snow drivers. Guess not. Still, glad I didn't have to go through what you did.

Just curious, who minds the store when you are gone

[drcollie]

I have the GONE FISHING sign out front when I'm out of the store for the day. I forward the store phone to my cell. Most the time I try to do long distance pickups on Sundays when the store is already closed, but this one had to be a weekday run.