Pick A Better Theme Next Time

DATELINE: EFFINGHAM, IL, 8:45 p.m. CDT

Miles Today: 365

The theme for today seems to have been pre-ordained to be "Challenges". Not that I would have picked that as a theme for any day, but that's how today went. Here's the story.

The challenges started when I woke up shortly after 3:30 this a.m. and could not fall back asleep. (I had planned to wake up at 6:00.) By 5:30 I figured I might as well get up and start being productive. So I got dressed and made the walk back across the street and under the highway to McDonald's for a leisurely breakfast. (It's next door to the Taco Bell I made the trek to for lunch yesterday.) I took my time there, watching the news on the CNN broadcast they had on their TV screens hanging from the ceiling.

After breakfast, I ambled back to my truck and decided to go ahead and fuel up, since the Pilot truck stop where I was is on USA Truck's network fuel list. While doing my daily pre-trip inspection of my truck, I noticed that one of the trailer's tires was a bit low on air. I was going to fill it with the air hose at the fuel island, but the trailer tires are tied in to the air lines and fill automatically, and there isn't a valve stem to pump air into (not without disconnecting the air lines, which I don't know how to do). So since the tire wasn't falling-off-flat, just kind of low, I decided I'd leave it for the time being and get to my deliveries.

The next challenge was at my first delivery of the morning. They have a small dock, down a narrow ramp with concrete walls. To get to it, I had to pull into and through a small, full parking lot that had just enough clearance for me to squeeze my truck through. Then I had to pull out the driveway on the other end, which the dock faces, to line up my trailer with the dock. Then I hopped out to open the trailer doors, and noticed that the hook on the side that holds the door on the driver's side open was missing. (This was my first delivery with this trailer--I had just picked it up pre-loaded at the shipper.) A previous driver had left a thick wire to hold the door in place, so I did use that, but as I was pulling into the street to line up with the dock, the wire gave way and the door swung out. Fortunately nothing was nearby for it to hit, so I pulled all the way into the street and along the curb to find something else to secure the door. I have a package of plastic zip ties in my truck, so I used a couple of those. They did the trick as I backed into the dock, which went better than I expected. I didn't hold up traffic in the street for very long.

The rest of that delivery went quickly--they only had 2 pallets and a small box to take off the trailer--and it was time to pull back out of the dock and make the very short drive (3 blocks) to the next site. I did have to pull over to the curb and close the trailer doors, of course, and in doing so the zip ties gave way and the door swung out again. Next time I'll try doubling the zip ties.

I suppose you would call the area I was in a business park, but the streets are narrow and almost looked residential, especially at the second delivery site. They have nice lawns between the curb and businesses' parking lots (and no sidewalks). I found the building where I was headed and saw nothing but very narrow driveways--and a sign that said, "No 53-foot trucks". So I parked along the curb and walked to the delivery entrance. There I encountered the businesses' owner (I guess that's what he is) and he told me to try to back into the driveway (the dock is built into the side of the building) from the street. There is a driveway directly across from his that I could have pulled into to set up the approach to his, but he said that building's owner "gets pissed" when his driveway is used as such. So I made an attempt to back in from the street, but it was just too narrow--unless I was to drive up onto lawns and take out some "No Parking" signs and the "No 53-Foot Trucks" one in the process.

It turns out the business has another building across the street that does have a proper loading dock in the back. So the owner, after consulting a partner on the phone, finally decided we'd just have to unload there and he'd use a smaller company truck to move the materials to the new building afterwards. When all was said and done there, I had my next assignment and was out of there at 9:30--and I wasn't even supposed to deliver at the second place 'till 11:00. So not everything about the day was bad.

My next assignment was to drive 100-ish miles to the town of Mexico, MO to pick up a load there at 12:30. I had plenty of time to make the drive and stop for lunch on the way, so I made that stop at a TA truck stop in Foristell, MO, that has a Taco Bell among its food choices. That was my next challenge: the girl--er, young lady--putting my order together was heavy-handed with the fillings, so when I had finished eating I was just plain stuffed! On just a bean burrito and steak grilled taquito!

And then it was on to Mexico. I arrived right on time, but still had to wait a while for an open dock. (I guess that counts as another of the day's challenges. Are you counting them? I haven't been.) Once the dock opened up, the loading there went just fine, except by then the day was quite warm, and I didn't have the engine running, which meant no AC. While there, I also decided that I'd better get that flat tire fixed soon, so I called USA's breakdown department. They suggested I go to the nearest TA on my route--which happened to be the one where I had lunched mere hours before. (Most TAs have service departments, and USA uses them a lot for such repairs.)

By the way, did I mention that my new load is headed to Monroe, Michigan? To a site where I've delivered before. I'll be there to deliver it on Friday evening. It'll be a mad dash to get it there on time--7:30 p.m.--from here, especially since I had to stop for the tire repair. But I'm up to the challenge. So back to the story.

Long story short, the stop for the repair took 1-1/2 hours, from 2:30 to 4:00. Most of that time I was sitting in my cab, engine off, sweating while I read. Since Foristell is about 50 miles west of St. Louis, and I was heading east, that meant that I'd hit the big city's metro are just at rush hour. So that slowed me up a bit, too. But it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and I completed the drive here (central IL) without any further troubles. I was worried that, since it would be after 7:30 when I got here (the Flying J that I've been to a few times before), I might have trouble finding an easy-in parking space. But those fears were unfounded as I had many spaces to choose from.

So that's the story of my challenge-filled day. (I've also been more fumble-fingered than usual on this keyboard--count that one, too!) Thanks for taking the time to check in on me. And keep on truckin'.