Homeward Bound

DATELINE: WESTBOUND PA TURNPIKE, APPROX. MILE MARKER 201, 7:30 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 206

A short work day today 'cuz I've bumped up against my 70-hour-in-8-days limit. I had 6 hours available today, and I used 5-1/2 of 'em before seeking refuge at a service plaza along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It has everything I need for the rest of the day and night: ample parking, rest rooms, convenience store, food court with Roy Rogers restaurant, UNO pizza stand (pepperoni and cheese pizzas only), Nathan's Hot Dogs, jumbo pretzels, and ice cream stand. Beats driving farther to get off at an exit and negotiate a truck stop. Anyway, back to today's work activities.

After a shower and shave, I started the workday at 5:45 a.m. by hitting the fuel island at the Flying J in Carlisle where I spent last night. On the road at 6:00, it took me about 1:45 to get to my delivery in Reading. The delivery was quick and easy, and I was on my way out of there at about 8:00 a.m. 2 hours down.

I headed back towards the Bethel terminal to wait for my next assignment to come over the airways. It actually came in in record time, within 10 minutes while I was driving to Bethel. However, I was driving along 2-lane highways on my way out of town and could not pull over to read it, so I made for Bethel anyway. When an assignment comes in, I need to find the locations and plan my route on a map, so I need a god place to park and do that. Bethel was only 30 miles away from my delivery site, so I just completed the drive there. Another 45 minutes to the cause.

My next pickup was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. in Lebanon, PA, about another 30 miles away, 15 on the expressway, the rest on a 2-lane state highway and city--er, town--streets. That drive took about an hour (running total: 3:45 so far), and I arrived about 45 minutes ahead of my appointment. They assigned me a dock door right away, though, and I backed into it. They didn't start loading 'til 11:00, but my time waiting (and during the load) was off the clock, not considered on duty. That load went quickly again, and I was back on the road at 11:30. ("Back on the road" includes time spent pulling out of the dock, and closing and securing the trailer doors.)

The load I now have in my trailer is bound for Grand Rapids, MI, so I headed back through town and up the state highway, back to the expressway (I-81 in this case) and to the west. I considered returning to the Carlisle Flying J, but I still had another hour of driving time when I passed there, time I could use to get closer to home.

Home. Ah yes, I'm always happy to see the MI destinations on my load assignments, because they leave the possibility of spending a night at the truck stop sorta' near my house. This one will accommodate that nicely, and I'll get a chance to see my wife, and maybe one or both of my kids tomorrow night.

I arrived at this service plaza with a half hour of today's on-duty allotment to spare. That will carry over to tomorrow, when I'll get 10 hours back as "used days" drop off of the front end of the rolling 8-day period. It was about 1:15 when I got here, and I went inside for some lunch. I decided on an Uno's pepperoni pizza and took it back to my truck to eat it there. After that, I did a little work on my laptop, then great weariness overtook me, and I napped. And napped. And napped. I think it was about 3:00 when I went to sleep, and I woke up at 7:00. Whoa! I didn't think I was that behind on my sleep lately. But it sure did feel good. However, since I want to get up and going real early in the morning--around 4:00--that 7:00 p.m. wakeup from the nap would have been a good time to go to bed for the night. But I need to be a good correspondent and get today's word out to you, so here 'tis.

And that's how today went. Thanks for checking in once more, and I look forward to your commentary. And don't forget to keep on truckin'.