Thanksgiving on the Road
by
Phil Madsen, Expediter
(Written November 29, 2003. Edited November 29, 2005 for publication on SuccessfulExpediters.com.)
Diane and I spent Thanksgiving Day laid over in Seattle, Washington. The night before, we drove to the Federal Way rest area on I-5 and went to sleep in the truck. We woke not to an alarm but to the morning sun. The rest area was busier than any we have seen. Holiday travelers were passing through. The women, and even the men, waited in long lines to use the rest rooms. The car parking area was nearly full, which is a rare sight.
Diane bought Thursday's newspaper from a vending box. We were especially interested in the computer ads. Tired of quibbling about whose turn it was to use the laptop, we were in the market for a second computer. We figured the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year, would be a good day to find a deal. We also figured we would still be in Seattle on Friday waiting for a load.
CompUSA had a steal advertised for the first ten people that showed up on Friday. That meant waiting in line outside the store before it opened. Ha!, we thought. With our truck in the CompUSA lot and the two of us taking turns in line, and with us being accustomed to irregular sleep schedules, we are well-equipped for such a wait. It was decided. We would park the truck at CompUSA Thursday night and get in line early Friday morning for a computer deal that would save us hundreds of dollars.
As Thursday morning passed, we thought about what we might do to celebrate Thanksgiving beyond the planned telephone calls to relatives. The night before, we dined at the SkyCity Restaurant atop the Space Needle but had to cut our meal short to respond to a load offer that later fell through. We decided to go back to this fine-dining establishment for Thanksgiving dinner. We called ahead for reservations and later drove the truck back into Seattle.
The freeway was packed with holiday traffic but the city streets were nearly empty. We parked on the street a few blocks away from the Space Needle and changed into nice clothes. As we approached the base of the Space Needle, a decision had to be made. Do we call dispatch and go out of service so our meal won't be interrupted, or do we take the chance that no loads will be offered on Thanksgiving afternoon and stay in service?
For non-truckers reading this, in service means you are available to receive load offers and haul freight. If an offer comes in, you have the option of refusing it, but the refusal would reduce another number carriers track; your load acceptance percentage.
If we stay in service, we build our in-service percentage numbers, which is a good thing in our carrier's eyes. The disadvantage is we may have to cut another fine-dining meal short if a good offer comes in. Going out of service would mean forfeiting our dwell time. Dwell time is the number of hours you have been waiting for a load. If there is more than one truck in service in an area, dwell time is one of the factors that determines the order of dispatch. The more dwell time you have, the better your place in line.
We decided to go out of service so we could relax and fully enjoy the four-course dining experience we had set our hearts on. Just as I was reaching for my cell phone to call dispatch, it rang. Dispatch was calling us with a load offer. Damn! I thought. Not again.
The polite and cheery dispatcher asked, "How was your Thanksgiving?"
I said, "We don't know yet, we're still working on it. What do you have?"
Her next words were music to my ears. "The pickup is tomorrow, 190 miles away."
That meant we could accept the load, which would keep us in service, and we would not be interrupted by another offer for an ASAP pickup. We could enjoy our Thanksgiving meal as planned.
The offer was a good one; pick up a four-piece, 250 pound load in Oregon on Friday for delivery to New Mexico on Monday. That's about 72 hours to drive 1,400 miles. Not only could we have a relaxed meal atop the rotating restaurant in the Space Needle, we would also have time for sightseeing on the way to New Mexico. The load paid well too.
The route takes us through Oregon and Idaho, two states I have never been in before. Since we started as new truck drivers about three months ago, we've been all over. It's only a matter of time before we will be able to say we have set foot in all 48 states. We've been in 41 so far.
Into the Space Needle we went. When we stepped off the elevator into the 500-foot high restaurant, one of the staff people recognized us from the night before and started to chat. When this dignified and elegant woman learned we were truckers, she confided that she spent a few years as a trucker herself, driving team with her boyfriend.
Our table was ready and we were immediately seated. The four-course meal was served at the perfect pace. Time was provided between each course to relax and enjoy the view as the restaurant rotated. Of the many views provided by high towers around the world, I believe the Space Needle view is the best. From a single vantage point, visitors can view the downtown area of a major city, ships sailing to and from the sea, and snow-capped mountain ranges.
The main course included ham, turkey, dressing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, yams, and green beans, all cooked to perfection and artistically presented on a warm plate. For desert I had triple chocolate mousse. Diane had pumpkin cheese cake.
We sat for a while after dinner to sip coffee and digest a bit. Then we returned to the truck and drove to Portland, Oregon, to spend the night at a loading dock behind a chemical plant.
The Friday morning pickup put us too far away from a CompUSA store to take advantage of the advertised computer deal. After the pickup, and with time to burn on this run, we went to a Portland- area mall and bought a computer there; one that was also on sale but not deeply discounted.
Our route to New Mexico takes us near the four corners, the only place in the nation where four states touch (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado). We'll try to swing by that sign in the desert for the classic tourist picture.
Also near our route are the ancient Puye Cliff Dwellings where people once lived long ago. Diane has visited that site before and wishes she had spent more time there. Once again, or trucker/tourist lifestyle is paying off. We'll go to the cliff dwellings and this time tour them at a relaxed pace. If we run out of time this trip it's no problem. As truckers we'll probably be in the area again. It costs us nothing to get there. In fact, people pay us to go!
There is one additional item about the Space Needle I would like to share that may be of special interest to truckers, especially those with manual transmissions. An exhibit in the Space Needle says, "The SkyCity Restaurant ring revolves smoothly on tracks and bearings beneath the floor. Its 14-foot wide turntable supports the 125 tons of the restaurant, which extends to an outside diameter of 94.5 feet. All it takes to revolve the restaurant is a one-and-a-half horsepower motor - the same amount of power as a sewing machine, but with the highest gear ratio in the world: 360,000 to 1!"
We have visited a number of places in our trucking adventure. Seattle now ranks as one of my favorites. It's an exciting city with many attractions. I am looking forward to many return visits.