3-Day Catch-Up

DATELINE: BRADY'S LEAP SERVICE PLAZA, EB OHIO TURNPIKE, MILE 197, 8:30 p.m. EDT

Miles Thursday: 427
Miles Friday: 564
Miles Today: 540

Pardon me for missing a couple of days, but I've been tres busy and finishing my workdays rather fatigued. But now I'll get you up to speed about my last few days.

When last I updated you on Wednesday, I had stopped in West Memphis for the night after picking up a new load headed to Des Moines, IA. On Thursday I arose early and hit the road, north into Missouri 'til I hit the St. Louis area, looped around the west side of the city, then headed west across the state. I stopped for the night at a TA just outside of Kansas City.

Friday morning I awoke at 2:15, unable to get back to sleep. Since I couldn't start work 'til 4:30, I played some online poker before heading in to hit the showers. I got rolling at 4:30 so I could make my delivery in Des Moines on time, 10:00. Bingo; I was there an hour early, and the trailer was unloaded before I was even supposed to be there. Afterwards, I drove over to a truck stop that is at the exit where I got off the highway for the delivery customer and waited there for my next assignment. And waited. And waited. I received a couple of messages on my Qualcomm box during the wait, but they were just blast messages to all drivers (an alert about a missing trailer; reminder about an air show at the Dayton airport making traffic around the Vandalia terminal difficult). So I assumed it was just taking a while for dispatch to get me a load.

After a while I sent a message asking for an ETA on my next assignment. At least I typed the message and pressed "Send". The "home" screen on Qualcomm displays a couple of lines, one showing the number messages waiting to be read, the other showing the number to be sent. I noticed that the "to be sent" count stayed at 1, meaning my inquiry message wasn't getting through. After giving it ample time to go on its way, and that not happening, I called in to my fleet manager to find out if he had sent a load assignment that hadn't come through. Of course he had, way back right after I had sent my "empty call" message before leaving my delivery site. Sheesh! I had waited over 3-1/2 hours at that truck stop. And now I had a pickup in Ft. Dodge, IA in an hour. The problem was, Ft. Dodge was a 2-hour drive away, so I'd be late.

I hopped in the driver's seat and set right out (after consulting my map to see where Ft. Dodge was and how to get there). Along the way the wayward load assignment message came in, and I stopped at a rest area to get the full details. I made it to the listed site, checked in at the gate, drove back to the shipping office, parked and checked in there, then was told the load was at another site, a transfer and storage company they use 5 miles down the road. AARGH! So I hopped back in the truck and drove over there. Fortunately, that place was easy to find, the load went smoothly, and I was done there an hour after arriving.

Unfortunately, I only had about an hour left of my 14-hour window since starting work for the day. More unfortunately, the load is headed for Mechanicsburg, PA, more than 1000 miles away, and due Sunday morning at 10:00. That meant I had 40 hours to drive the 1000+ miles plus take 2 mandatory 10-hour breaks. So I decided to ignore the 14 hour rule so I could get in 11 driving hours as many miles as I could for the day. I had just under 5 hours left after my drives from KC to Des Moines and then to Ft. Dodge, and by my calculation I could reach Walcott, IA, site of The World's Largest Truck Stop. I've been there a couple times before and mentioned it in prior updates, and it is a favorite stop of mine, so I happily set out to get there. Which I did at 9:30 p.m. After waking up at 2:15, that had been a L-O-N-G day. Somehow I hadn't felt much fatigue until I got to Walcott.

This morning I actually slept 'til my alarm woke me at 6:15. Since my 10-hour break wouldn't end 'til 7:30, I had plenty of time for a leisurely shower and shave. Once it was time to get back to work, I fueled up the truck and got moving. Since I had to make tracks with this load, I got permission to take the Indiana and Ohio turnpikes, which would be on the most direct route and would allow higher speeds in OH. So I spent the day hauling a--er, the load--across the northern part of IL, IN, and OH, before running out of time here. Actually, I could drive another hour, but there's no good place to stop and park for the night that I could reach in that hour.

Even as much as I've pushed the pace on this trip, I won't be able to reach the delivery site on time; the best I could do would be to get there a couple hours late. I knew from the start that it would be a tall order--too many miles and not enough hours. I've sent dispatch a message to that effect, so right now I'm waiting to hear if they're going to send another driver here to pick up this load in order to deliver it on time. I hope they're quick in letting me know (it's been a couple hours now), 'cuz if I need to stay on the load, I'll need to get to sleep so I can get up early and back underway.

So that's how my situation stands right now. Check back tomorrow to see how it all turns out. Thanks for checking in, and keep on truckin'.