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DATELINE: MT. VERNON, TX, 8:45 p.m. CDT

Miles Today: 399
Miles Yesterday: 608

First things first: Reader hrr, could you please 'splain your most recent comment? Thanks.

Next things next: Apologies again for neglecting yesterday's posting. It was another of those days when I was too weary to think straight at the end of the day. I had had a bad night's sleep followed by a l-o-n-g day of driving, and I was just beat and went right to bed. So I'll make up for it today.

As I mentioned, yesterday was all about driving as far as I could. That wound up being from Knoxville, TN to 35 miles east of Texarkana, AR, where I spent the night at a TA truck stop. Since my delivery appointment was for 7:30 p.m. today, I had planned on sleeping in late and hitting the road around noon. However, since I went to bed so early, I woke up correspondingly early and decided to just go ahead and get going. So I was headed west at 6:30 a.m. My delivery customer would just have to fit me in early.

I reached the customer in Irving, TX at 11:30 a.m. I did have to wait a while, though, because of my early arrival, but when all was said and done, I was outta' there 5 hours before I was even supposed to be there. (I really didn't want to make the delivery as scheduled, then go make a pickup, then drive into the night and have to find a place to stop in the middle of the night.) They decided to have me swap my loaded trailer with an empty one in a dock door, which meant the old triple drop and hook. What made it more fun was the tight area to maneuver when backing the loaded trailer into the dock. But I managed it eventually.

After leaving the delivery, it took a while for my new assignment to come through. During that time I was driving across town (Dallas) to a truck stop I was familiar with (another TA with a Taco Bell and Burger King inside, on the south side of town). Shortly before I got there, it finally came through. Of course, the Qualcomm message box won't let you read it while the vehicle's in motion, so I had to wait 'til I reached the TA to read the assignment. Which was: Pick up a load in Garland, TX (a northeast Dallas suburb) headed for North Carolina, delivery at noon on Monday. That meant driving back up the eastern side of the highway loop around the city. Since it was still just a bit before rush hour, that wasn't a problem.

When I reached the pickup site, I had to wait for another USA truck to get loaded (it was just backing into the dock) and leave before taking its place in the same dock. Fortunately, that was fairly quick, and I was done there within 1-1/2 hours. However, I only had another 2-1/2 hours of my 14-hour work window for the day, so I wasn't going to get as far as I'd hoped afterwards. I was hoping to reach at least the AR state line, where there are a few truck stop options as well as a nice big welcome center rest area. However, that was at least a 3 hour drive under good conditions. This now was rush hour around Big D, and I only made it to the first rest area along I-30. Fortunately, despite this being a very small rest area, there was a parking space available, and I nabbed it. And here I am, blogging away, telling y'all about it.

This weekend I'll be retracing my steps back east along I-30 and I-40 from whence I came the last 2 days, then going a wee bit further and into western NC. I think this is the first time I've had a load going back as far along the route I had just come. I just wish it wasn't a route that I'm already so familiar with. Oh well. At least the weather has been mostly terrific--warm and mostly sunny, despite a few scattered raindrops yesterday.

I hope all is going well with you. Do drop me a line to let me know. And do keep on truckin'.