Much Going On Today

DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TN, 6:25 p.m. CDT

Miles Today: 369

I guess I have plenty to report on today--comparatively, anyway. I started this morning with my 11-mile drive to my delivery appointment. It and the delivery went fairly well, except I was there for 2 hours. More waiting. Once done, I zipped back to the Vandalia terminal to grab a bite to eat from a vending machine and await my next assignment.

The next job came in short order: run down to Kentucky, a bit east of Louisville, and pick up a load destined for northeastern Texas. Now with that delivery in TX scheduled for Thursday morning, and my next hometime scheduled to start on Friday, I had a suspicion I wouldn't keep that load for its entire journey. After I made the pickup (a 3-hour drive from Vandalia, and in-and-out in only 45 minutes--what a departure from the norm), my dispatcher confirmed that I would be swapping out that load for another bound for somewhere closer to home. He didn't have those details worked out yet, so I started with the load towards West Memphis, where I expected to make the switch. On the way through KY I stopped at a truck stop to get my truck weighed (it's a heavy load and I had to make sure the weight is evenly distributed among the axles--it wasn't so I had to slide the trailer's tandems back to even out the load. But I digress.) and get some lunch. Upon returning to the truck I had a message with the swap details: Head to a Pilot truck stop in Nashville and swap there for a load headed to Dearborn, MI. Since Nashville is on the way from KY to West Memphis, I just kept headed the way I was going.

I'm at that Pilot right now, waiting for my swap partner (hmm, I wonder if my wife'll care for that term) to show. Our "appointment" was at 4:30 local time. I was about 1/2 hour late (dispatch is usually short when estimating drive times), but still didn't see the other truck. After a while I sent in a message to dispatch asking for the other driver's ETA. I was told that at that time he apparently was in Knoxville, about 3 hours away. OK, so I guess I'll be staying here for the night, as my 14-hour driving window will elapse before he can get here. My worry right now is, will I get to stay here?

This Pilot has a fairly small lot, and by the time the other driver gets here, he may not be able to find an open parking spot. And since my trailer's already in a spot, and we'll be trading trailers, he'll get this spot. You see my potential problem. In any event, I'm unlikely to get a good night's sleep anyway, since I have stay awake waiting to make the swap. Plus, the load I'll be taking from him is due for delivery at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) in Dearborn. That's about 550-ish miles from here, or a full shift's worth of driving. I'll need to hit the road about 3:00 local time (or 4:00 eastern time, which my body is attuned to right now, having been in that time zone the past few days). So tomorrow's gonna' be one of those "challenging" days. At least I may be able to spend tomorrow night at the truck stop near home and see some of my family briefly.

Acquisition News: I finally caved and bought another appliance for the truck: a 'fridge. Actually, it's a soft-sided plug-in cooler rather than a hard-bodied appliance, but it's the same idea. I got this one 'cuz it's small and was only $40 here at this Pilot. I don't plan ever to need a big one for this job; just one big enough for a couple of beverages and some condiments. Now when I buy sandwiches at truck stops I can dress them up how I like them, instead of having to settle for the default condiments they have. I'll have to remember to take it home when I have hometime so it won't drain the batteries while the truck is sitting idle.

That's enough news for today, I guess. Wish me luck that the swap goes off without any other hitches--or glitches; I haven't used that term for a while--and that I get some good, restful sleep before I have to haul a** in the morning. Oh, and here's hoping that the severe weather predicted for later this evening doesn't blow my truck over. Thanks again for looking in, please send in some commentary, and keep on truckin'.