THEM

Happened again. On Jersey pike. Never break down on Jersey Turnpike. Towing restricted to certain contractors.

This time I had a load. Had to drop the trailer at the towing yard and get towed to a Freightliner in Philly. I was flat broke from the last time and had to get an 800.00 advance from Dispatch to bover the tow bill. Storage is 75.00/day. 400.00 of the tow bill was for the two from their yard to here: 14 miles, calculated by my truck-specific GPS router, which I took out of the truck and showed them. The boss's answer was to repeat "Four hundred".

Some people, when they know they've got you, take all they can get, and sleep like a baby. What a wonderful world this could be if we could weed them out. Put them on an island with others like them. Boy would THAT be a great reality show!!!

Freightliner can't look at it til this afternoon. I suggested an exorcist. I'll have to borrow more to cover repairs and bail out the trailer. THEY must have read my last blog and been dissatisfied with merely breaking me--I'm real hard to bum out.

Meanwhile I owe Road use taxes and am collecting toll bills. I call my former company daily and am daily told that they can't pay me any part of the TWO THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED BUCKS they owe me.

I got one ray of hope this time. I smelled burning wires before the permafailure. It might have been another truck, but if it was mine, they'll find it quickly, and have a strong clue as to what caused it.

Oh...and I got a flat tire...one of the new expensive ones. It's intact, at least.

I found a few bucks left in one account and walked to this hotel. Dammit I sweated about two gallons, they don't have a shower, and lately people can't seem to stand looking at me. I think I look like a bad combination of rage and self-pity.

My agents aren't set up to subsidize drivers. They have a budget. This might be hurting them more than it does me, and I can't stand it.

I told the guy at Freightliner to make sure this wouldn't happen again. I'll wait til 2 pm and call my former company again. They'll tell me the same thing, and I'll do some arm-twisting and take what I can get. If/when I DO get a good chunk of what they owe me, at least I can repay some of what I'll owe the agent.

Otherwise, I already told them they could take half of my pay--probably more. I do need to cover those bills--and get two tires before too long, but I don't have other expenses. They seem to be able to keep me running--not many deadhead miles, nor much time between runs, so I should "get right" in a matter of weeks.

That's it. No Family Reunion, probably no Thanksgiving or Xmas. I'm running hard the rest of this year. What if I break down again? Beyond the bills, I have to be ready for stuff like this. I always was...til my former company stopped paying me and I "bled out"...dammit.