The powers that be claim I will be on my way home tomorrow. Where have the last three days gone, you ask? The afternoon of the 11^th they asked me if I would do a recovery. A recovery; that’s when you travel to wherever a truck has been abandoned and bring it back again. Strange as it may sound, trucks are abandoned all the time. In fact, abandoning your rig is a standard method for quitting your job around here. When you’re ready to quit you get to your home city, empty out the cab, and walk away. The company will charge you, or try to, for the recovery, but that doesn’t seem to be a huge deterrent. After all, if you bring your rig back to the yard and quit you are faced with the prospect of getting yourself and all your stuff from the yard to wherever you live. So the cost is about the same and the inconvenience factor of being a good guy is fairly high. In addition to what I have heard, that if you tell the company you intend to quit, and so to dispatch you back to the yard, you will find yourself either sitting for days without loads or else getting dispatched anywhere but the yard. Hence there are actually drivers here who do nothing but recover trucks.

They sent me to Houston to get mine. Had to wait until he evening of the 12^th for a ride down there, as they had me hitch a ride on a load going that way. Got there late in the morning on the 13^th, made sure the thing started, sent on the appropriate messages, and began cleaning out the mess (guys don’t leave their cabs in pristine condition when they walk away from them) while waiting for instructions. About an hour later I was told to deadhead directly to the yard.

Even though it was filthy, it was nice to be in my own truck at last. I celebrated by stopping for barbeque at a joint the driver who took me down recommended. Took his advice and got the pork chop, too, and did not regret it one bit. Woody’s Smokehouse was the name of the place, and they do know how to smoke up a pork chop. This one was tender and sweet and two ribs thick.

Back at the yard they flagged me for repairs, which is the usual thing. Then they came for my truck at 11PM, just after I’d dropped off to sleep, and kept it until two. That gets us to this morning, when I really was hoping I would get out of here. Silly me. But at three my manager told me I was all cleared, and gave me a pre-plan. If nothing changes between now and then I’ll be picking up a load at noon tomorrow and delivering in Denver at 3AM on the 17^th. Then it’s just sixty miles down I25 to my cozy home in the foothills.