Killing Time in Texas

It seems like everytime that I have these lengthy layovers, I happen to be in Texas. Not that I don't like Texas, it just seems that I not moving a lot of the time that I'm here. Anyway, I'm an hour or so out from leaving and heading east. I plotted my course back to Huntsville in such a way that I'll arrive with ample time to deliver, but not so early that my break will be split up. So, kudos to me for that one. Last night I found the vital missing piece to my sound system in the truck.

I think I've described this already, but just in case-- my sound system consists of a home stereo (of the sort with the speakers that you connect to the head unit), lots of cd's, and a 200 watt inverter to power it with. I plug the inverter up to my cig. lighter and voila I have great sound. The downside is that I have to deal with it skipping a lot. Sooooo, I decided that running the music directly off of my laptop is vital, so I set out to find a more powerful inverter, for a low price.

And last night I did that. 400 watt, two outlet inverter for $40.00. My 200 watt, single outlet inverter cost me $34.00. So I'm proud of my find. I tested it out not long ago and it can power both my stereo and laptop at the same time, while the truck is off! This is a huge success for me. All that is left, is finding the cable to connect my laptop directly into my stereo. And for that, I'll take some time at a Wal-Mart-- which I'm sure to pass at some point on my way to Huntsville. If not-- I can deal with cd's for two more days.

My back and arms are sore from having to deal with these incredibly shitty trailers that I keep getting stuck with. When the trailer isn't connected to the truck, the front portion of it sits on whats called "landing gear". In order to raise the landing gear once you connect to the truck, or lower it once you want to drop a trailer, you have to manually crank and rotate a lever connected to the side of the landing gear. More often than not, the landing gear isn't properly greased and you have to turn bright green and shred your clothing in order to get the trailer to move.

Can you imagine me outside of a huge warehouse at night, orange industrial light flooding the area, next to a trailer cursing and groaning like a powerlifter? Because that's what happens nearly every single time now

My favorite part is when I'm turning the landing gear lever, using all of my strength and weight to move it ever so slightly, and it just gives and I end up flipping over it landing on my back staring at the sky.

Also seems to happen too often. And always when another trucker is around.

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