Overlong Day

DATELINE: DEXTER, MI, 8:30 a.m. EDT

Miles Yesterday: 551

I have a rare opportunity to blog in the morning before getting started for the day. I will reveal the reason why I'm doing so instead of a post-workday update last night in today's story.

My last update told the story of a day full of challenges. Yesterday was quite the opposite--hardly anything came up that was particularly difficult at all (unless you count how warm and muggy it was when I got up in the morning and headed into the truck stop for a shower). I was up, showered, and on the road before 6:00 a.m. CDT. Traffic was light as I plowed east through Illinois, Indiana, and western Ohio to I-75. There I headed northwards after stopping at our Vandalia, OH terminal to fuel up. That part of the trip, including a rest stop and another stop for a bite to eat, took 5 hours.

The drive up I-75 started just fine, but as time went on, the skies ahead, and coming from the west, grew increasingly ominous. As I neared Toledo (within 50 or 75 miles), the wind picked up greatly. Eventually the promised storm hit, with a deluge of rain along with the howling crosswinds. OK, so that part was a challenge, hoping the truck would remain upright. (Did you know that each side of the trailer has more surface area to catch the wind than the sails of the Mayflower?) The tempest blew itself out within a few minutes--as such storms normally do--without any adverse effects to my journey, other than to slow me down a bit. I continued on to my destination in Monroe, MI under clearing skies.

My delivery was about the quickest I've had yet in this career. It was a simple drop-and-hook, with the only delays being checking in at the guard shack, and waiting for a couple other trucks to back into their spots and clear my route. After hooking up a new empty trailer, I sent in my "empty call" message; my new assignment came across within just a couple of minutes. That's when the "fun" began.

The first thing I noticed was that the pickup was in Warren, MI, a city where my dad had been a teacher when I was growing up and just a couple cities over from my where we lived. The second thing I noticed was the pickup time: 21:00 (that's 9:00 p.m. for you civilians). Uh-oh. That was beyond my 14-hour driving window for the day. I messaged that fact back to my fleet manager, asking if the shipper would have the load ready for me if I got there early. He replied that they "should" and that I should go ahead and head over.

Well, it was now 4:00 p.m., which meant I would be driving along I-275 and I-696 during the Friday rush hour. That's always a joy, if you like having plenty of time to scrutinize the scenery. Of course, since I was driving, my scenery was the tangle of cars surrounding me.

I arrived at the shipper just before 6:30, 2 hours before my driving window would close, but with only 1/2 hour left of my allotted 11 driving hours for the day. (Remember, we drivers get 14 hours to drive those 11 hours before we have to take a 10-hour break before driving again). I checked in and they assigned me a dock door to back into--once another USA truck vacated it. That actually didn't take long, and I used the interim time to turn my truck around to get into position to approach the dock, open the trailer doors, and slide the trailer's tandems to the rear. By the time I completed those steps at a leisurely pace, the other truck was pulling out.

Backing into the dock went smoothly, after which I set my brakes and chocked the trailer wheels. I then called Mrs. Reluctant Trucker and made plans to meet later that evening. Since Warren is only about an hour's drive away, I figured to spend the night at the TA truck stop near our home. She would drive over once I arrived and we would grab a quick bite to eat and exchange pleasantries. However, fate would have other ideas.

After completing the phone call I waited. And waited. And waited. 8:30 p.m., the end of my 14-hour window came and went. 9:00, the original pickup time, came and went. A little after 9:30 a guy finally came out and told me that they were "getting the load ready right now". I called home again to discuss things. Since it would still be at least 1-1/2 hours before I would even get to the truck stop, and Mrs. R.T. had to work in the morning, we decided to scrub the mission to meet. Bummer.

Finally, after 10:00, they started loading my trailer. They finished up at 10:30, at which time I headed into the office to pick up my paperwork. Picking that up, pulling out of the dock, closing and locking the trailer doors, sliding the tandems back forward, and sending in my "loaded and leaving shipper" message took another 15 minutes, and I was finally on my way, violating the DOT hours of service regulations. Remind me to send a nice Thank You card to my fleet manager.

I still drove to the aforementioned truck stop, but I wouldn't be meeting anyone there. :-( I had the truck weighed (this is a heavy load and I needed to make sure the weight was legally distributed between the axles--it was; I had adjusted the tandems to a proper position), grabbed a quick bite (I was hungry), and hit the sack. It was now after midnight.

Since a 10-hour break is mandatory before I can drive again, I have this time this morning to fill you in. I woke up around 7:30 this morning, and though I was still tired, knew I wouldn't get back to sleep. So I got dressed and started the day by leisurely strolling (more like stumbling in fatigue) across the street to McDonald's for breakfast. Then it was back to the truck to tell you all about it.

It's now 9:30, and I get to start my work day in just a few more minutes. So I need to wrap this up and hit the road. I plan to head right back to Effingham today (from whence I started yesterday), which will probably take around 9 hours. If I have any energy left when I get there, I'll write up another report for y'all. So have a good day yourselves, thanks for reading, keep entertaining me with your comments, and keep on truckin'.