The Fatigue Factor

DATELINE: NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR, 5:30 p.m. CDT

Miles Today: 290
Miles Yesterday: 740

Happy 4th, everybody!

Well, I've been a little busier than usual the last couple of days. As you can see, yesterday's mileage total is on the high side. But it wasn't all in one driving shift, so it's a bit more understandable. Here's the scoop.

I awoke yesterday at midnight, after far too little sleep the evening before. I had earned a shower credit with my fuel purchase at the truck stop the day before, so I used that to clean up before starting my workday. At 1:00 a.m. I started up and zipped over to the shipper less than 2 miles away. I hooked up the loaded trailer, pulled it out of the dock, closed, sealed, and locked the doors, and hit the road for Tulsa. (When we pick up a load, the shipper usually gives us some sort of numbered "seal", a plastic or metal strip that snaps together at then ends. I loop that through the device on the trailer door that latches over the door handle, then add a padlock to secure the load. That gives the customer verification that the load has not been tampered with when it arrives with the seal intact--you can't open the door without breaking the seal.) I had 21 hours to get to Tulsa and deliver the load on time (10:00 p.m.) , and I would need a 10-hour break somewhere in that time, too. So that left 11 hours to make the 615-mile drive. If traffic problems developed to keep me from being able to make it, I'd probably have to divert to our Van Buren, AR terminal (from whence I'd just come, and which is on the way and 2 hours from Tulsa) and relay the load to another driver. But the traffic gods were with me and I made it to a rest area along Oklahoma's Muskogee Turnpike, about 40 miles from Tulsa, in 10 hours. That left plenty of time for my 10-hour break and the conclusion of the drive to the receiving customer.

Unfortunately, I found it difficult to sleep--what with my shifts bouncing between daytime and night, and the copious amounts of Diet Coke I'd been drinking to keep alert--despite a good level of fatigue. I did drowse for 3 or 4 hours, then woke up ready for a bite to eat. The rest areas along Oklahoma's turnpikes have McDonald's restaurants at them, so I indulged in a Big Mac combo. Back at the truck, I couldn't sleep, so it was time to read some. (To answer reader nancyr's query of a couple days ago, I have just been reading books on Poker lately in an attempt to better my game. Nothing "interesting" in her terminology. But I have been listening to some interesting audiobooks as I've been driving, so that balances the literature pretty well.) After reading a while, I tried napping again, to moderate success. But I didn't manage to get back to a full, restful sleep, and eventually it was time to get back up and make my delivery.

I had timed the trip perfectly, and arrived at the customer a few minutes early. This was going to be a drop-and-hook (back the trailer to a dock door, unhook it and leave it there, grab an empty trailer from their yard, and depart), so I wouldn't have to do any waiting while they unloaded. The docking and unhooking went well, I quickly found an empty, and sent dispatch my "empty call" message to initiate the process of getting my next load assignment while I hooked up to the new trailer. Happily, the assignment came in before I finished hooking up, sliding the trailer's tandems back to "normal" position (they had been slid all the way back per the customer's preference--many do like them all the way back as a safety measure for their forklift drivers who drive into the back of the trailers when unloading them), and completing my paperwork for this delivery.

My next pickup was set for 4:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, AR, about a 3-hour drive away. Since it was not yet 10:30 p.m., I had plenty of time to swing by the Van Buren terminal--which was along the way--and fuel up, both my truck and me. So I did that; diesel for the truck, a "Chicken Cordon Jack" sandwich and more Diet Coke from the vending machines for me.

Fayetteville is about 50 miles north of Van Buren (which is by Fort Smith, AR) along I-540. It's a very scenic route, even in the dark of night with a just-past-full moon. Patchy fog added to the scenery in the valleys below. I made it to the shipper an hour early and found nobody around. The pickup instructions mentioned the number of the trailer I was to pick up, that the company doesn't have its own yard truck (meaning they can't move trailers around on their own), and that I should slide the empty trailer's tandems back before dropping it at a dock door, but nothing more specific--such as where would the load's Bill of Lading (paperwork) be and at which door they'd like the new trailer dropped, and even verification that the load was ready to go. After consultation via Qualcomm messages with dispatch, I just went ahead and put the empty trailer into an unoccupied dock and pulled out the target trailer. It was indeed fully loaded and the paperwork was lying on top of the back of the load. So I closed, locked, and sealed the trailer and hit the road. It was now just before 4:00 a.m.

This new load is headed for 2 stops in the Atlanta, GA area, so my route was back down I-540 to I-40 and back east, they way I'd come from Nashville the day before. After Nashville I'll head east on I-24 to Chattanooga, then onto I-75 to Atlanta. My intent was to drive to our West Memphis, AR terminal and take my next 10-hour break there, but fatigue soon set in. At 5:15 or so I came to a rest area along I-40 and pulled in. Wonder of wonders, there was a parking spot open, so I took it and set my watch alarm to allow myself a 1-hour nap. (I had plenty of time in my 14-hour window to allow a nap of that length and still make it to West Memphis.) Alas, when the alarm sounded, the sleep felt too good, and I allowed myself to take some more of it.

I woke up just after 8:00 a.m., still tired but rested enough to drive the rest of my shift--my 14-hour driving window since I had started the shift would end at 11:00. West Memphis was out--it was still 4 hours away--but I could make it to Little Rock, 2 hours away, where I knew of a good "truck stop cluster" to take my next break. So here I am, at a Petro truck stop. I got here at 11:00 (after a breakfast stop en route), called the missus, then promptly hit the sack.

I finally got a good stretch of sleep, waking up after 5:00. I'll go back to bed in a little while to work on a good night's sleep, then get up at 4:00 a.m. to get back on my preferred schedule. I don't have delivery appointments yet for this load, and when I asked dispatch (the overnight and holiday crew was on duty) they didn't have them yet, either, nothing more specific than "B @ the Final on Friday", "Final" meaning the final stop. So my plan for tomorrow is to drive to the Atlanta area to be ready to deliver at any time on Friday. I'll check with my fleet manager about actual delivery appointment times when he's back from his holiday off tomorrow. By my calculations, it's just about a 10-hour drive to ATL from here (2 hours to Memphis, 4 more to Nashville, 2 more to Chattanooga, then another 2 to Atlanta).

And now you're once again caught up with my exploits. Thanks for your interest, and please do submit your questions and comments. And, as ever, keep on truckin'.