Westward, Ho!

DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TN, 6:45 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 408
Miles Yesterday: 269

As I suspected in yesterday morning's post, I was way too weary at the end of the day to compose another update for y'all. In fact, I was too tired to do anything but hit the sack. Here's a recap of the day.

As you recall from yesterday's update, I returned to my truck at 6:00 a.m., then waited 3 hours for my next assignment, which was to pick up a load in NW OH at 5:00 p.m. Well, I completed my blogging and headed out. I stopped en route for lunch, and reached the customer a wee bit early, 2:30 to be precise-ish. Much to my delight, they had my load ready in a pre-loaded trailer, so all I had to do was a quick drop-and-hook and be on my way, which I was by 3:00.

It was a 4-hour drive to Vandalia, including time to stop to pick up a bite to eat and weigh my truck. At the terminal I fueled up and pulled around and parked. By that time I was truly worn out--I had had a short night of sleep before getting up early to get to my truck--so I just made my requisite call home to check in with Mrs. Reluctant Trucker, then went right to bed. That was before 8:00 p.m., and I slept 'til about 6:15 this morning, so I had a real good night's sleep, which I needed.

Despite the lengthy sleep, I must've still had some residual fatigue, because I just had the feeling that today wasn't going to be a very good one. That feeling was helped along by:
1. The beverage vending machine at the terminal was out of Diet Coke
2. When I stopped at a truck stop between Dayton and Cincinnati for breakfast (there was a McDonald's next door--I'm practically hooked on their Steak, Egg, 'n Cheese Bagels), I had some stress trying to s-q-u-e-e-z-e my truck out of a very tight parking space in their small lot.
3. Rush hour traffic jams in Cinci-town.

After all that, things got a bit better, and I made it to my delivery. The drive down took up 8-1/4 of my allotted 11 driving hours for the day. I made a couple loops of the business park the customer is in, then had to pull onto the shoulder to call them for directions. It seems my directions from USA had neglected to include the actual name of the place I was looking for. Helpful info to have, eh?

The delivery was another drop-and-hook, once we ironed out the problem of the incorrect delivery number USA had given me. I dropped my loaded trailer in the assigned spot, hooked up to the empty, and sent in my "Empty Call" message to dispatch. Lo and behold, my next assignment came within minutes, before I finished up at the delivery site. My next pickup was just back up the road from whence I came. (The delivery was about 20 miles east off of I-75 along Tennessee highway 72; the pickup was 1/4 mile west of I-75 on TN 72.)

The pickup was yet another drop-and-hook. I had to wait for the staff there to return from break before they could give me my instructions, but I was done there and on my way again in 45 minutes. From there drove the 20-ish miles to my current location, a Flying J in Knoxville. I've been here a few times for refueling, but I've never spent the night. I'll be up early tomorrow and on my way west; this load is headed for the Dallas, TX area. I have about 800 miles to go by the 7:30 p.m. on Friday delivery appointment, so I'll be driving hard tomorrow. Fortunately, this is a very light load, so I won't be slowed down going up the mountains in this state--well, not much, anyway. I hope to reach the Texarkana area tomorrow, which will be a tall order since that's about 650 miles from here. Since these USA trucks are governed at 63 MPH, I'll have to be going full speed for just about all of tomorrow's 11 driving hours to get there. But if I come up short, I'll have plenty of time on Friday, since my appointment is so late in the day.

And now you're up to speed with my doings. Thanks again for dropping by this corner of the web. I hope all is well with you. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.