Another Tour of Duty Begins

DATELINE: WATERVLIET, MI, 10:50 a.m. EDT

Miles Yesterday: 393

I'm back, faithful readers. Back on the road and on these blogwaves. I got a late start yesterday because I was up 'til 4:00 a.m. Monday night/Tuesday morning working on accounting and taxes for my various companies--the ones that did so well for me that I had to head out on the road in this job. I was hoping to take an extra day off to finish that up, but USA denied my request. So I was back at my truck by 2:00 in the afternoon and ready for my first assignment of my new tour of duty.

Yesterday turned out to be all I-94, all the time. I was first assigned to take an empty trailer to a company in Portage, MI, which is along I-94 right by Kalamazoo. I would then bobtail back along I-94 to the trucking company yard in Romulus, from whence I started (and had parked my truck over the weekend) to await my next assignment. That was a 6-hour round-trip. Once back I waited...and waited...and waited (so what else is new?). At nearly 10:00 p.m. I finally got tired of that (even though I was reading an interesting book) and sent in a message to dispatch asking if a load assignment was headed my way anytime soon. Within just a few minutes I had one: Hook up to a loaded trailer there at the yard and deliver it at 8:00 a.m. the next morning to a company in Paw Paw, MI.

Paw Paw is about 20 miles further along I-94 than my first stop of the day in Portage. Problem: If I counted my requisite 10-hour break as having started when I first arrived back at Romulus, I couldn't leave 'til 6:15 a.m. With a 2-1/2 hour drive to Paw Paw, I was destined to be just a bit late. Since it was "critical" for that load to be on time, dispatch decided to let me take it over there right then, since I did still have plenty of time available on that shift. I would arrive at about 1:00 a.m.

The trip to Paw Paw went just fine, but the guard at the company's gate had some doubts about whether or not they would take my load that early since I was not expected then. A brief walkie-talkie conversation with the receiving department ensued, and they let me in. Whew! If I had had to go camp out for the night and come back after my 10-hour break, I would have been even later than originally feared. So it all worked out for the best. I even nailed the backing-into-the-dock maneuver on the first shot.

An interesting thing about the companies I delivered to yesterday: I had been to both of them before--it must have been back in January or February--only in the reverse order. I had delivered to the Paw Paw company one day, and my next assignment after that was to pick up a load at the Portage company. So that familiarity made yesterday's assignments less stressful. (Familiarity in this job does not always breed contempt.)

After the Paw Paw delivery, I headed about 15 miles further west along I-94 to a rest area. Halleluja, there were some open parking spots, so I took one for the night--er, morning. That was about 2:15 a.m., so my next shift will start at 1/4-after noon today. I already have that assignment; it came in after 6:00 a.m., the Qualcomm message box beeping me awake. The pickup time--at another company in Paw Paw--was set for 8:00 a.m. Well, that obviously wasn't going to work for me, so I messaged my concern back to dispatch. They replied that I could just go ahead and make the pickup once I had completed my break. So back to sleep I went.

I woke up this morning at about 10:15. I had a surprise when I opened one of the window flaps (vinyl coverings held in place at the corners by Velcro) in my sleeper berth and looked out: snow covered the ground. So once more I come to the west side of the state and get snowed on. That has happened each time I have ventured over here, the lone exception being when I came in from the west on my way through from Iowa a couple weeks ago.

Well, anyway, that's where things stand right now. Once I pick up the load in about an hour from now, I'm headed south. That load is headed for Louisiana. I hope I get to take it all the way there, 'cuz I haven't been to that state on this job yet. Delivery is set for 7:00 a.m. on Friday, so it'll be another mad dash to get there. I think I'll have to drive as far as I can tonight, take an extra long break, then drive overnight tomorrow night to arrive towards the end of my shift. The way my schedule is right now, factoring in 10-hour breaks and driving times, I don't know if I can align the delivery time with the start of a sift. But I'll work on that math after I sign off here. Which I'll do now.

Thanks for checking up on me and sending in your clever comments, and, as ever, keep on truckin'.