PLAY MISTY FOR ME

No Clint Eastwood, no psychological thriller, just a day that was misty from start to finish. We had a great night's sleep and headed out at 7am to get to our first shipper in Portland. It was a container business and we were to pick up 150 clean black barrels. Getting backed into the dock area, I had to don my ever fashionable florescent yellow, reflective taped vest, and ventured out into the roadway and risked life and limb to stop traffic so that Craig could swing out into the traffic lane to get backed up properly.

Once up to the dock, I watched the assembly line they had for barrels, as Craig watched two employees load the barrels one at a time. They had a system, as they laid out long sheets of cardboard, and rolled the barrels from the end of the trailer to the front of the trailer where the other employee would start stacking them. With paperwork in hand we ventured a couple of miles down the road to our second shipper.

Here we watched as a new employee was taught how to load with a forklift. We were picking up about 17,000 pounds of miscellaneous oil products. Everything securely in place, we drove through the greater Portland area on our way to the nearest scale, and were on our way. We enjoyed the drive on Interstate 84 along the Columbia River to the company yard for the night.

This morning we left at 5am to get into Sandpoint, ID for our first drop. It never ceases to amaze me the places the businesses want us to back into, this one with a huge sinkhole right in the middle of where we needed to be. But Craig was able to maneuver around it and get as close as he could for them to unload their products.

Our second drop, in Coeur d'Alene was a little bit easier and the customers were so friendly and nice, it was a pleasure to be there. I entertained myself by counting all 150 barrels as they were rolled off the trailer.

Right now, we are still in misty weather, hearing as it hits the roof of the truck, while sitting in the company yard. We aren't sure what if anything we will be dispatched on, especially since it is a holiday weekend. We are hoping for something going into California, but until we hear something, we'll just keep listening to the misty rain that keeps falling.