Drive; Train

DATELINE: VAN BUREN, AR 4:00 p.m. CDT

Miles Yesterday: 633
Miles Today: 0* (some training driving, but no "official" miles)

Looks like I owe y'all another 2-day update. Yesterday was an overly long day and I was exhausted when I finished up. Here's how it went.

My pickup was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. just across the river from New Orleans. It was at a company right on the wharf, right alongside a huge tanker tied to the dock. I arrived early, 7:15 or so, and had to wait a few minutes before anyone even showed up. I guess it's not an early starter of a company. (This is, after all, the Big Easy.) But someone did arrive by 7:30, directed me to the appropriate loading dock, and I was loaded (well, the trailer was; I don't drink on the job) and on my way shortly after 8:00. And I had quite a long haul to make.

I wound my way through the streets and highways of NOLA and onto I-10 for the westward jaunt. That took me through Baton Rouge to Lafayette, where I turned north-northwestward onto I-49. That took me to Shreveport, and from there I hopped on US-71 for the pretty-much-straight-north shot through Texarkana to here. (I did take a short side-trip east along I-30 from Texarkana to a Flying J to fuel up the truck, but after that it was back to US-71.)

The weather had been beautiful in southern Louisiana, but as I drove northward the clouds grew in number, sky coverage, an darkness. After passing Texarkana, the rain started. For the rest of the drive, I passed through varying patches of light rain, heavy downpours, and no rain. By the time I reached Van Buren, which was around 9:15 p.m., the rain had stopped and the sun had gone down. I was feeling alright all the time I was driving, but after unhooking my trailer (so another driver could continue the load on its way to its destination) and parking, fatigue hit me like a brick. So I just went right to bed.

As you recall from earlier posts, I'm in Van Buren to attend a "Driver Skills Development" course, which will take 3 days. I got up this morning at 5:30 because my Fleet Manager had not yet told me what time the course would start. So in case it would have started at 6:00, I was ready. I sent another message to my FM to inquire about the starting time (and where I needed to go for the class), and he finally responded: check in at 7:30. So I had plenty of time to get a bite to eat and take a shower and shave before reporting for the class.

The class, as I found out today, will be all driving--no classroom work. Today we did some practicing of backing maneuvers on the driving range in the morning, then after lunch (which was free!--Whaddaya mean there's no such thing as a free lunch?) we--me, the instructor, and 1 other driver--drove through some city streets to learn some skills for turning tight corners. Why such things weren't required in training to begin with, I don't know. But I did pick up some good tips today, and it's good practice, so I'll be that much better when I'm back on the road this weekend.

We had to stop early today because a heavy rain front came through. No thunder & lightning, though. We had finished the drive through town and were going to do some more backing practice when we noticed how dark the skies to the west had become. Shortly afterward the rain started, washing out the day's activities at 2:45 (we were going to go 'til 3:30). Fine by me--I'm still a bit tired. I grabbed a snack from the vending machines in the drivers' lounge, waited out the rain, then returned to my truck to tell y'all about it. And that's where things stand right now. I may give in to my fatigue and take a nap next, unless I decide to fight it and take a crack at another freeroll poker tourney. I think I'm leaning towards nap right now, though.

Thanks for checking in once more, please do join the comment chorus, and keep on truckin'.