Monday Waiting

DATELINE: BETHEL, PA, 8:00 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 324

Yet another day with lots of waiting around and challenges. Here's how it went.

I woke up at 4:30 and was on the road by 5:00. It took me just about 3-1/4 hours to reach my delivery site in Newark, including a mammoth traffic jam at the toll plaza of the New Jersey Turnpike where I needed to exit. What a colossally badly-designed conjunction of entrance and exit ramps. Sheesh! Anyway, once I fought through that mess, I was soon nearing the customer. I get to the last street and...it's closed! With no "Detour" signs. So I took my best guess and drove one block north, then back east in the proper direction. I stopped by the side of the road there to call the customer and get proper directions. They included going one more block straight ahead from where I was (Hurray! I had guessed right so far!), then cutting--twisting might be a better verb--through a parking lot back to the (very narrow) street on the other side of the closure. I made that just fine, though v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y to avoid scraping anything with any part of my truck. I then turned down the driveway to the loading docks.

As I expected, this being an old part of town, they had docks with just enough room to get the trucks swung around and backed in straight. And that was if other trucks weren't in the way. They had to fill the docks from one end to the other; there was no way to back around any trucks already in a dock to an opening on the other side.

I was early for my appointment, so I had to wait 'til the trucks in place cleared out, which occurred shortly after my scheduled appointment time. During my time waiting, I had studied the area and devised my plan for backing into the dock properly. And when the time came, I pulled it off! Though because of the scarce run-up room in front of the docks for pulling forward to straighten up, I did have to take 3 or 4 pull-ups, but at least I got in straight. :-) (Self-administered pat on the back included.) Unlike the 2 trucks that followed me, the latter of which was WAY off kilter, but apparently close enough for this place.

Once unloading began, I thought I'd be away before too much longer. But n-o-o-o. They got past halfway done when break time began. A 20-minute break, to boot. OK, I've been dwelling on this site long enough. Suffice to say that I was there all told for nearly 3 hours. I left and hit the road for a rest area or truck stop to await my next assignment.

After one missed turn due to the confusing nature of the NJ Pike and its signage, I eventually came to a Service Plaza along the southbound side where I had stopped on my previous mission into the Newark area. However, this time it was inundated with traffic--car and truck--and I found no open spots to park. So I continued to the next exit where I looped around to the northbound side. I tried the Plaza across from the swamped one I had just passed through, and it was also full. I then continued on northbound where I knew I'd come to another Plaza in a few (20-ish?) miles.

This one turned out to be a HUGE place, parking lot-wise; I spied it from the highway bridge above. I pulled in and, after a short search, found a spot very close to the building. The NJ Pike Service Plazas each have a food court with several culinary choices. I elected to eat from the Burger King stand at this one. Did I mention that so far today, all I had had to eat was 1 Nutri-Grain bar and a 20-oz. bottle of Pepsi? So by this time I was starting to get a bit peckish. I was surprised that I wasn't getting hunger shakes and weakness. I must be getting used to eating less. (See yesterday's post about that topic.)

After lunch I returned to the truck, expecting my next assignment to be waiting for me. Nope. To summarize in the interest of time: wait; read; nap; 2-1/2 hours before assignment came in. That assignment: Head west into PA to near Pittsburgh, grab a load there tomorrow morning, and take it to Lyons, NY. Awright! I finally get to add NY to my states-visited-on-the-job list, and Lyons is right near where my brother and his family live. I may get a chance to see them and show them my truck. Cool. So I promptly got myself ready and hit the road.

Just a few minutes into the drive, just after I had made it back onto the turnpike, my message box beeped--an incoming message. Fortunately, there was another Service Plaza coming up in another mile or two, so I made my way through traffic to it, pulled in, and parked again. The message: "Bad load. They're (meaning the load coordinators) looking for something else." I'm glad I had found a place to pull in to read that fairly quickly, or I may have found myself way outta' the way of where I'd need to be for the new assignment. I waited there about a 1/2 hour 'til got the new one: Pick up a load near Harrisburg, PA in the morning and take it to LaVergne, TN (near Nashville). The funny thing about this load is that the company to whom I'll be delivering the load is one of my former employers (the W arm of the company, not B, for those of you familiar with my history and the company's makeup). I may have even visited the facility on a couple of day-trips while working for them, if they only have one facility in LaVergne. I don't yet have a delivery appointment for the load. The drive is a tad over 700 miles, so I'll be getting there sometime on Wednesday, I'm sure.

Anyway, once I got the assignment, I had just enough time in my 14-hour driving window to get back here to the Bethel terminal from whence my day had started. I may even be in the same parking spot I had vacated in the morning, but it's hard to tell on a grave lot without lined spaces. It's been a long day and I'm getting tired, despite my afternoon nap. I had another bad night's sleep last night, waking up nearly every hour. So I need to play catch-up again. At least my pickup in the morning isn't 'til 8:00, and I'm within an hour's drive from there, so I'll be able to sleep in relatively late.

Oh, reader Dennis the Accompanist has posed another question, wanting to know where I've had the best BBQ ribs. Well, ribs are not really on my dining budget, and I'm not really an aficionado of them for the most part. But I do enjoy them on occasion, though I haven't while I've been on the road in this job. I do have to say that the best ribs I've had have been...at my house. Though not technically barbecued--they're braised long and slow in the oven--I use a tweaked version a recipe from Alton Brown of Food Network fame. For a nearly-reasonable fee I'll let you know which recipe and what the tweaking is, and you can make your own. (P.S., Dennis, I'm looking forward to your chili in another couple weeks. Hope you'll have it at the picnic.)

The time has come again to put an end to my rambling. Thanks for taking the time to take a look, and please ramble back at me. And keep on truckin'.