Crossing the Southland (Not Singing Songs About It)

DATELINE: DENHAM SPRINGS, LA, 8:00 p.m. CDT

Miles Yesterday: 645
Miles Today: 449

Pardon my absence yesterday, but 'twas a long day driving from southern IL down into northeastern TX. By the time I stopped for the night, I was exhausted and needed some shut-eye. But let me give you a re-cap of that day as well as today.

As I mentioned, yesterday was just one long drive (with short stops for food, fuel, and other necessities), as you can tell by my mileage figure. The weather and traffic conditions were good the whole way, but as I drove south along US-59 in Texas, the skies did turn cloudy.(Little did I know what was heading that way.) I did finally get to see what that northern stretch of 59 looks like in daylight. I had traversed it many times during my training period late last year, but always at night. It's much better in the daytime. Anyway, I made it all the way to the city of Lufkin, TX, where I stopped at an apparently abandoned truck stop. The parking lot was still open and a lot of other trucks were parked there, and since I had used up my available driving hours, I pulled in. There is a restaurant right next door that was open, so at least I had access to food and a restroom.

Lufkin was still about a 3-hour drive from the Houston area where I was headed with my load (specifically, La Porte, TX, along highway 225). Since my delivery appointment was at 7:00 a.m., I was up at 3:00 this morning and rolling at 3:30. I made a fuel stop en route at a Flying J in New Cany, TX where my trainer and I had stopped many times. 'Twas good to be travelling familiar territory.

I made it to the customer site early, and waited in line with a few other trucks 'til they opened their gate. The delivery went fine, yadda, yadda, yadda, and I was done there at 8:00. I drove just a couple miles up the road to a truck stop, and en route there my next assignment came in. So I read it after parking my truck. Next up: Continue the direction I was heading (west, back towards Houston) a few more miles and make a pickup at 9:00 a.m. Then take that load to Gadsden, Alabama to deliver it Friday afternoon.

I drove over to the pickup site, checked in at the gate, got my directions to my assigned loading dock, negotiated the narrow roads in the complex, backed to the dock, and checked in at the Shipping Office. Then I waited about an hour while they loaded (I had to wait inside the plant at a designated waiting area--they don't want drivers waiting in their trucks at this site), picked up my paperwork, closed up my trailer, squeezed back around the tight corner onto the main road to the gate, and was on my way.

As I headed east along I-10, I noticed that the sky was quite cloudy, almost threatening, even. Since I listen to audiobooks while I'm driving and had spent the last 2 nights at sites without TVs (a rest area and a ghost truck stop), I had no knowledge of the weather system dubbed "Humberto". A couple of other drivers at my delivery this morning had been discussing the heavy rain in the Beaumont area, so I had some clue that something was going on. Anyway, I did see lots of standing water in fields and ditches along the roads as I made my way across eastern Texas and into Louisiana, and I drove through some patches of rain. But only one of those patches was heavy, and it didn't last very long. And I never encountered any strong winds, either. By the time I reached my current spot, a Pilot truck stop in this town, no rain was falling. (Though it's raining now as I compose this.) I stopped here because my 14-hour driving window for the day was reaching its end. Besides, I was getting tired again. (I did pull into a rest area near the eastern edge of Texas for an hour-long nap earlier because of fatigue.)

I've been back on the road for 3 days now, and I've worked 11-plus hours each. I certainly do want the miles for my paychecks, but the long days do tend to wear one down some. I haven't had the energy to attempt keeping to my fitness plan as I outlined last week. That's the (well, at least one of the) downside to these assignments with little "wiggle room" (extra hours beyond the necessary time to drive the distance) built into the trip between pickup and delivery times. My current load does have a few extra hours, so I can sleep in just a bit in the morning before having to head out. But tomorrow will be another long day--I have probably 8 to 9 hours to drive to reach Gadsden before my 4:00 p.m. delivery appointment. Then I'll probably get another pickup to make before I can call it a day. But be sure to check back tomorrow to find out where I'll be headed next.

Thanks again for taking a look-see at my blog. Do please drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.