Fun (?!) Times

DATELINE: BEEBE, AR, 6:30 a.m. CST

Miles Yesterday: 160
Miles Tuesday: 109

Sheesh! My next paycheck is gonna suck! I've had too many low-mileage days lately. Today I'm here to tell you about the last 2. At least Tuesday started with some success.

As you recall from my last post, I was engaged in a $1-entry online Hold-Em tournament, planning to go deep into the field. Well, I did. Out of 421 entrants, I finished 9th! The tournament paid the top 54 places, and I turned my $1 into $7.58. Woo-hoo! Playin' for the big bucks now! ;-) Anyway, my real job hasn't been as fun since.

After wrapping up the tourney, I got ready to start my work day. I set out for the delivery early, hoping to get that over and done with and on to my next assignment. (By the way, the 10 miles I get credit for that drive was more like 30.) I arrived at the customer--a big distribution center for a grocery chain--and checked in at the gate around 6:15 p.m. (my delivery appointment was at 8:00). Naturally, I was directed to wait until summoned, so I pulled into their "Truck Staging Area" lot, backed into a spot, and sat. And read. And read some more. Finally, sometime after 8:30, they called me forth to enter the grounds.

Unfortunately, there had been a shift change at the gatehouse. The new guard apparently didn't understand a word I was saying when I told him I had already checked in and they had called me to head to the docks. He had me pull back out into the street to park and check in. OK, so I did, then had to wait outside the shack while he dealt with another couple of drivers. Finally it was my turn and I managed to get him straightened out about my status. He gave me my assigned door number, I got back in my truck, and headed to the dock.

Docking was fine, then I went inside to the Receiving Office and checked in there. Yadda, yadda, wait, wait. Long story short, I didn't get out of there 'til after midnight. Afterwards I pulled out to the street in front of the place and parked along the curb (this was in an industrial park) to wait for my next assignment. I expected it'd be a while, so I stretched out on my bunk to catch some rest. (Remember, I was operating on 4 hours of sleep from the previous night, and a couple other short nights before that.)

I woke up around 5:30 a.m., still without a load assignment. So I sent in a message asking if one was forthcoming. It came in soon after: pick up a load at 10:00 at a site just a few miles away. Well, I couldn't drive 'til I'd completed a 10-hour break, which would be at 10:30. I sent that info in to dispatch, and my Fleet Manager replied for me to get there when I could, no problem.

When I was in Trucker School, the instructor taught us that if an activity takes less than 7-1/2 minutes, we don't have to account for it in our log. (Our time is broken down into 15-minute increments.) I didn't want to spend my whole 10-hour break on the street (although plenty of other trucks were parked there, too), so I took 5 minutes to drive over to a nearby Pilot truck stop. I hadn't done that after the delivery because at that time of night the parking spots would have been full. But now, after 6:00, spots would be open. And plenty were. After a quick breakfast, I hit my bunk again to catch up on some more sleep before having to get another work day started.

I got up at 10:00, hoping to catch a shower at the truck stop (I have a couple shower credits at Pilot). I got on the waiting list, but 10:30 was rapidly approaching, and I had to get to work. So no shower.

It took me only 15 minutes to reach my next pickup. I checked in there and got assigned a door right away--this place had, like, 20 dock doors, and only 2 or 3 were filled at that time. Which is why I'm mystified that it took 2 hours before they even started loading my trailer. In the meantime, it started raining.

A couple weeks earlier, when I had my truck's regular maintenance done at the Vandalia, OH terminal, they replaced my driver's side windshield. Apparently they didn't get it sealed completely, and it started leaking at the top, where water from the cab's big, sloping roof was pouring over it. So while I was waiting I called in to Maintenance and got an appointment to get that fixed up at the West Memphis terminal after I was done with the pickup. (By the way, this load was headed for a midnight delivery in Searcy, AR, only about 100 miles away, so I had plenty of time to stop by West Memphis for the repair.)

Fortunately, they finally loaded my trailer and I was out of there in just enough time to get to the terminal just at my 3:00 appointment time. Of course, there, the shop clerk let me know that it would be at least 4:00 before they could get to my truck. Yadda, yadda, another long story short, I was done there and on my way by 6:00 p.m.

My delivery with this load was a drop-and-hook, rather than a live unload, so being early would not be a problem this time. I arrived there around 8:15, dropped my loaded trailer in the assigned slot ('twas a narrow space between 2 other trailers, so it took a few minutes of nice, slow, work), found the lot with the empty trailers, found an acceptable USA empty, hooked up to it, and headed out.

I had to go about 15 miles down the highway (US67, northeast of Little Rock, if you're keeping score at home) to this town to find a truck stop. This one's just an Exxon station with truck parking spaces in back, but it'll do. I snagged the last open spot. I got my next assignment before too long and, fortunately, it's for a pickup this morning in Jacksonville, AR, another town not very far from here. That meant I could just stay here and grab some sleep, rather than having to keep working into the night.

So this morning I woke up around 5:30 again, nearly fully refreshed, and unable to catch even a few more Zs. So I got outta' bed, hit the McDonald's for breakfast (FINALLY! A Steak, Egg, 'n Cheese Bagel! Haven't had one in a while!), and had time to compose this update for ya'. But now it's time for me to get back to work. After I make my pickup I'm headed with the load back out west, farther west than I've been on this job before: Sundown, TX, just west of Lubbock. I deliver there Saturday morning, so it won't be a huge rush to get there.

Well, gotta' go. Thanks for your readership, and keep on truckin'.