2-Day Catch-Up

DATELINE: WEST MEMPHIS, AR 11:00 p.m. CST

Miles Yesterday: 38
Miles Today: 278

Well these last 2 days didn't go exactly as I had planned. Yesterday started well, as I got to my noon delivery appointment a little early. This was the 5-mile trip I told you about in my last update. But that wound up being a bit of a longer trip because the customer sent me (with my load) to another warehouse about 15 more miles away (but still in Fort Smith, AR). No problem there. I found the place, checked in at the new place, backed my trailer to the assigned dock door, dropped it there and hooked up to an empty trailer as instructed, and boogied down the road to a very nearby truck stop. There I waited for my next assignment.

It took over an hour and a half for the assignment to come in, during which time I had some lunch (hot wings from the truck stop's deli counter--not bad), read a bit, and snoozed a bit, too. Long about 2:00 I got the news: pick up a load from another Fort Smith company at 3:00. The trip to the pickup was again less than 5 miles, and I got there just after 2:30.

I checked in at the gate, then again at the shipping department, and was directed to park in their yard to await an open dock. 2 other USA drivers had gotten there just before I did, and they were waiting as well. Their appointments were for 6:00 and 7:00 but, of course, when the yard jockey at the company came around to assign docks, he did so in the order we arrived. Anyway, I finally got a dock assignment around 4:00. Then the fun began.

First of all, this was one of those places that has absolutely no spare room in front of the docks--just barely enough to maneuver a truck in if you have to do so around one that's already there, which I did. It was difficult, but do-able with enough attempts to get lined up just right and by doing everything v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, which I did.

Once docked, I hopped out to chat with the other 2 USA drivers, who were also in the same dock area (around the back of the building). Couple of nice guys, James and Roger. Roger is also a Michigander, so we had that in common to chat about. It also turns out that all 3 of us are headed for the same destination with our loads: Columbia, SC, delivering on Thursday. We got to chat a lot because this customer was V-E-R-Y slow in loading our trucks. USA requires its customers to load (or unload) its trucks within 2 hours of arrival. Well, this place apparently did not get that memo; I wasn't out of there 'til 8:00 (and James and Roger didn't leave very long before me, either).

I had figured that I would make that pickup, then drive to the West Memphis terminal. That would be about a 5-hour drive. However, by the time I was done at the pickup, I only had about 4-1/2 hours left of my 14 hour work/drive window for the day. So I just headed back to the Van Buren terminal and spent the night there. 'Twas quite a long work day for only 38 miles driven, and I only got paid for 5 of 'em. Sheesh!

This morning I got up and hit the road by 6:30. My plan was to drive 'til I used up the 8-1/4 work hours I had left of my 70-in-8-days. That started out OK, and I stopped in Russellville, AR, about 80 miles into the trip, to weigh my truck at a Pilot truck stop there (the first set of scales I'd come across). Longish story short, it took me 3 weighings and 2 tandem slides to get my load balanced legally, with time to park and lengthy waits in line to get (and pay for) the scale printouts after each. Afterwards I walked up the road to a nearby Sonic for breakfast.

After walking back from Sonic, I got back in my truck and zipped over to the Flying J at the same exit to use one of my shower credits to get cleaned up. All in all, my stop in Russellville took 2 hours. But that's OK since only the time to get my truck weighed counts towards my work hour limits.

Once done in R'ville, I just beelined it for West Memphis. (OK, I did make a couple of rest stops.) That took another 3-1/2 hours. My plan was to fuel up here, but when I arrived the fuel island was closed. I haven't found out why, but it was enough for me to decide to just stay here for the night and see if the pumps are back in business in the morning. I need to fuel up here because there aren't any fuel stops on the company network on the route I'll be following next (US 78 from Memphis to Birmingham, AL). I could get out-of-network fuel at one of the few truck stops right near here, but that's a bit of a hassle.

Anyway, I'm here in West Memphis. I'll get going early again tomorrow--I have a long way to go and I'll get back a bunch of hours to do it in. My atlas says it's 610 miles (I think that was the number, if I remember correctly from when I looked it up yesterday) from Memphis to Columbia. I don't have to drive all the way tomorrow, though; my delivery isn't 'til 9:00 Thursday morning, so I can save a couple hours of the drive for that day.

So that's what's up lately. It's time I head to bed--I spent too much time playing that online poker, hence the late hour of this composition. Thanks for looking in. Check back tomorrow for (hopefully) an update about how the day's drive went and where I wound up. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.