Goin' to Carolina

DATELINE: HAW RIVER, NC, 10:00 p.m.

Miles Today: 532

Break time is over. I'm back on the road, this time hauling a load from the Vandalia terminal to a customer in Dunn, NC. I'll deliver it there at 7:00 tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, then get my next assignment and go from there. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This morning I planned to get up at 6:00, but when my alarm sounded I really wasn't ready to be awake. So I ignored it and stayed in bed. I finally woke up at around 7:30, this time ready to face the world. So I got up, sent in my "back to work" message to trigger my next assignment to come across, and got ready for the day. Soon the assignment came in, and you know from reading up top what it said.

I found the specified trailer in the yard, hooked it up to my tractor, and hit the road around 8:15. My route for this run took me down US35 from Dayton into West Virginia and my previously-proclaimed least favorite stretch of road so far: US35 from the OH-WV border to I-64. But you know what? It wasn't that bad this time, probably because it was broad daylight and I have a lot more experience driving these things.

Anyway, before I got to that stretch, I stopped at a TA en route to weigh my truck (this is a heavy load) and take a shower. (You may recall from my previous reports that the Vandalia terminal doesn't have showers for the drivers. I had spent 2 nights there and I was ready for one.) That stop, which included the shower, 2 weighings (because the load was out of balance the first time), and a bite to eat, took 1-1/4 hours. Time sure flies when you're having fun, eh? Considering I had about 23 hours from the time I hit the road to the delivery appointment, and 600+ miles to go, I really had to make time the rest of the trip. However, with this heavy load, the mountainous route I'm taking makes it impossible to make good time. So my break tonight will be absolutely no more than the required 10 hours.

I've stopped for the night at a Flying J at this town in my dateline, above. I was worried that my somewhat late arrival would mean that it'd be hard to find a parking spot, but this FJ has a larger than usual lot and plenty of spaces were open. In the morning I'll get up, hit the shower, fuel up my truck, and get rolling. I calculate I have about 80 miles to go to reach my delivery, so I need to hit the road by 5:30 at the latest to get to the delivery on time.

So now I need to sign off and get to bed. Thanks again for looking in. Drop me some questions and comments, and keep on a-truckin'.