Home Weekend

DATELINE: PITTSFIELD TWP, MI, 8:30 p.m. EDT

Greetings from home! I apologize once more for missing a couple of days of updates, but I'll catch up tonight.

On Thursday I made my delivery in a small town just west of Indianapolis in the morning, then got my next assignment. That was to make a pickup in another western Indiana town and take it to Bay City, MI, delivery at 9:30 Friday morning. Pickup was scheduled for noon, so I boogied on over there, arriving around 11:15. This was a place that pre-loads trailers, so it'd be a drop-and-hook pickup for me. When I arrived (early), they were just getting started loading the trailer I'd be taking, so I had a bit of a wait ahead of me. Unfortunately, that wait wound up being longer than desired; I wasn't out of there 'til after 2:00.

Once back rolling, my goal for the rest of the day was to make it to my "home" truck stop, the TA in Dexter, MI. Mission accomplished as I arrived at about 8:00 p.m., fueled up my truck, and found a parking space. I was tired and hadn't had dinner yet, so I patronized the Popeye's Chicken there, then hit the sack.

Friday morning I got up early so I'd have plenty of time for a leisurely shower, shave, and breakfast before heading out for Bay City. I hit the road at 7:00 and reached the delivery customer at 9:00. This was yet another drop-and-hook delivery, although I did have to back the loaded trailer to a dock door (instead of dropping it in a lot). Before grabbing an empty trailer and heading home, I had to check with dispatch to find out if they wanted me to pick up a load there (I've been to this customer twice before for pickups) and get it started on its way. It took a few minutes for the messages to get through, but ultimately dispatch just told me to get an empty and head home.

So now I'm home in the middle of this latest all-too-brief hometime. I go back to work Monday morning, then I expect I'll be on the road 'til Thanksgiving. Since I get 1 day at home for every week (7 days) I'm on the road, I need to stay out that long in order to get the full Thanksgiving weekend off. Anyway, check beck on Tuesday to find out where I'm off to next.

For now I'll move on to answering reader Jim the Baritone's question, "Have you made any friends on the road? Or, is the chance of seeing anyone more than once so small that it is just you, the truck, the poker games and the blog?"

Well, Jim, I do pretty much keep to myself on the road. I never run across any other truckers frequently enough to create any friendships. I'm certainly personable enough with other drivers while waiting around in shipping/receiving offices and truck stop (or USA terminal) lounges, but most of the time I do stay in my truck. That's just the way I prefer it.

I've managed to take a LONG time putting this report together (distracted by the Wolverines' game on TV), and it's now getting late. Time for me to sign off and head to bed. Thanks for looking in, drop me some comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.