Weeks 9 & 10

March 3-still plenty of snow near Parry Sound

Well that was something.  I had a "normal" weekend at home.  That doesn't happen very often.  On Sunday the kids were over for dinner.  Not really kids - that's my daughter and her partner, both in their 30's - but to my wife and I that's what they are, kids.  Sunday dinner with the family is a special occasion for me.  So is waking up and having a lazy Sunday at home.  It was great, especially since this was the weekend that daylight savings time kicked in.  Another hour lost put me over the edge fatigue wise.

It took me all day yesterday (Monday) and a good nights sleep last night to recover from my ride home.  I got caught in the "late afternoon shift loop".  Starting at noon each day and working until about three each morning.  My mind and body don't care for that shift too much.  Delivery windows often dictate our shift times out on the road and once you are into the groove of a 24 hour day it's tough too simply switch off one shift and switch on another.  That's probably the biggest contributing factor too the fatigue I experience from driving.

Picking up at a horse ranch near Lacombe, AB March 10

Speaking of fatigue, I had just over 60 hours of downtime while I was in Edmonton.  It was a stretched out reset period.  Unfortunately there were seven trucks arriving at our terminal at the same time on a Sunday evening.  Monday's are tough days for load planners.  Especially these days.  Finding freight while drivers are in their face doesn't do anything to reduce their stress level or speed up the process.  You would think with extra time off a person would be more rested.  But when your out on the road it seems to work in the inverse.  At least for me.  A 36 hour reset is great for a rest.  If that reset starts on a Sunday evening and then you have a load to move on the Tuesday morning, well, that would be perfect.  Utopia!!  When you sit for longer than that impatience & restlessness can turn to boredom & stress which in turn adds to fatigue - especially mental fatigue.  The only reset that is truly effective from a fatigue reduction point of view is one that occurs at home where rest and relaxation have their full benefit.  There is much to be said about waking up in your own bed and walking into your own bathroom in the morning then heading to your own kitchen to make that morning cup of coffee.  There are many things I appreciate that I took for granted before I started to drive for a living.

My view as I pull away from the receiver in Thunder Bay

On the way home I had a drop to do in Thunder Bay.  That's how I ended up working the dreaded afternoon shift.  It was a 16:30 appointment for 10 skids at a one man show.  Got it all lined up but when I arrived discovered that we couldn't get a pallet jack under the skids since they were all loaded in sideways - each skid over 2,000 lbs.  There was no dock at this little place.  Just a small tow motor and a pallet jack in the van.  So after much panic on the part of the receiver I lined up a place a couple of blocks over and had the skids pulled off and re-loaded then back over to the receiver to unload.  That added about 90 minutes.  Another 1/2 hour to unload and it was 19:00 by the time I got out of there.  This all happened last Friday night and I was hoping to be down in the Soo for my 8 hours off but only made Wawa so it was midnight Saturday by the time I made it in to southwestern Ontario and the yard.  Two-thirty in the morning by the time I walked into the house.  Actually three-thirty because of the DST jump.  That's trucking right?

Just 10 days out and the snow is gone from Ontario!

Well I got rested up and it was such a gorgeous day today I was finally motivated to get out and start my running program again.  I gave up on it through the winter mainly because I kept suffering minor injuries in the cold and snow.  I was getting frustrated by the process so it was doing me emotional & physical harm rather than good.  I've missed it though.  I can actually feel the weight building up again without having to get on a scale.  I just have a softness about me again that disappears as soon as you have about six weeks of regular exercise under your belt.  All it takes is 5-7 hours a week to stay in good physical/mental condition.  That's time well spent I've learned.  So it's time to move that back to the top of my daily priority list and get it done.  More exercise, less food for a month or two just to firm things up.

The message is in.  I'm off to Kalamazoo then Grand Rapids for tomorrow.  Out of there I'll be heading to Vancouver.  Looking forward to seeing early summer at the beach.  So long for now.