Milestone

DATELINE: MONROVIA, IN, 8:00 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 467

Today I passed a milestone that I've been looking forward to: I passed the 100,000 mile mark since I started driving solo in this truck last December 28. I take the odometer reading on my truck at the end of every day, and when I picked up the truck it had 286,969 miles on it, and today, obviously, it went past 386,969. So that's working out to a bit over 10,000 miles per month, or right on the target goal of 125,000 for the year. Unfortunately, they haven't all been paid miles because of the predetermined-miles-per-trip policy USA uses. But at least I get to be away from home and all the things I like and need to do for most of each month. (I hope you pick up on the sarcasm in that last sentence.) But enough about the milestone, let's move on to today's fun and games.

I arose around 4:15 in order to get on the road at 4:30, when I fulfilled my requisite 10-hour break. The drive to my pickup in WV was dark and foggy, and I arrived around 6:15, just a smidge past my appointment time of 6:00. I stopped at the company's gate and went into the gate house to check in. While doing so, the guard told me that the shipping department doesn't ever have anybody in or the paperwork ready 'til 7:00; she doesn't know why companies keep sending trucks at 6:00. So I had to back up and park alongside their driveway and wait 'til they summoned me after 7:00. In the meantime, I also did have to watch a short safety video they make all visitors watch before being admitted to the facility.

Finally, at around 7:08, they guard waved me in and instructed me where to park my empty trailer and to which building to go to get the paperwork and find out where the loaded trailer I'd be taking was. (Yes, 'twas another drop-and-hook pickup.) All that went fine, and I was back on the road by 8:00.

This is a relatively short trip--only 313 loaded miles from pickup to delivery; thankfully I'll also get paid for 167 empty miles from my previous delivery to today's pickup. And since my delivery appointment isn't 'til 9:00 tomorrow morning, I took the drive nice 'n easy today, even stopping for a 45-minute nap at a rest area east of Columbus. The drive went mostly well; I was forced to follow a detour (following a lengthy traffic jam) off of I-70 near I-75 when, apparently, the police had closed off a portion of the highway. Must have been an accident further ahead. But the detour, although slow because of the massive amount of traffic, wasn't difficult and I easily made it through to the Vandalia terminal for fuel and lunch.

After lunch, I made my way over to this town, just west of Indianapolis, where I've stopped for the night at a TA truck stop (or "Travel Plaza", as these places like to be known these days). Despite the "short" trip, it wound up being a long work day: 9 hours of driving, 1-1/4 hours of other duties, plus the down time for waiting and napping. So overall it was over 13 hours from start to finish.

And that's my tale for today. Now an entreaty: C'mon, people, it's been a few days now without any comments. I need to hear from my public! So please drop me a comment and/or question. Anything you want to know about the trucking life but were afraid to ask? Anyway, I still thank you for reading my drivel, and do keep on truckin'.