Arkansas Swing

DATELINE: TEXARKANA, AR, 4:15 p.m. CST

Miles Yesterday: 320
Miles Today: 333

I just finished up the second of a couple of short workdays, then tomorrow they'll get long again. Here's my story, and I'm sticking to it. ;-)

All I did yesterday, as far as this job is concerned, is drive from Effingham, IL to our West Memphis, AR terminal. Once at the terminal, after a quick bite for lunch, I checked in with the shop. I had called maintenance on my drive down to get an appointment with the shop to check on a couple of issues I'm having with my truck. My "Warn Engine" light is on most of the time (though not so much today, of course) and my cruise control has been working only intermittently, as I mentioned in my report a couple of days ago. So I wanted to have the shop check those things out.

They had me pull my cab over in front of the building, and one of the guys came out to take a look. He checked the error codes the engine had been sending to the diagnostic system, then checked with his boss, then reported back to me. The problems were nothing major (he never told me what they were) and that I should wait 'til my next regular service to get them addressed. In other words, they didn't want to be bothered with them just then. Sheesh! Just when I had a bit of time in my schedule for some work on the truck. So enough about that topic.

I spent the balance of the day (the shop discourse took place at about 2:00 p.m.) playing sit-n-go Texas Hold-em tournaments online. I played in 9 of 'em, with lesser results than I wanted. I took 2nd place in 4 of 'em (these were 6-handed games, and paid the top 2 places), 3rd and 4th place twice each, and a 5th place. I spent most of the time being card-dead, and when I wasn't, someone else was getting a bigger hand or sucking out on me. I'm not saying I played optimally every time I was in a hand, but I think for the most part I made the right decisions given the circumstances.

OK, I know this isn't my poker blog (see that at http://ziptochips.blogspot.com/), but I want to give y'all a taste of all of my life on the road. (Besides, ZipToChips will follow only my PokerStars escapades as I try to build a significant bankroll starting from nothing. Yesterday's travails were on Full Tilt Poker, where I've already whittled a small bankroll down a ways. So I won't include that story on that blog.) But back to the trucking job.

This morning I slept in a bit, although I was awake for an hour or more early in the morning--one of those wake up and can't get back to sleep episodes. I finally got up at 8:00, got myself ready for the workday, fueled up the truck and hit the road around 8:45. I just drove straight to my delivery in Pine Bluff, AR, a 3-hour tour--er, drive. (OK, I did stop for a rest room break at a small truck stop just at the exit where I needed to get off I-530 to get to the delivery anyway.) This was a new delivery experience. The company is in an industrial park, and nobody was there. My fleet manager had told me that it was a 24/7 drop-and-hook operation, so I knew I'd just be dropping my loaded trailer and grabbing an empty one. But we usually need someone to sign for the delivery. They had mailboxes along the side of the building, by the trailer yard (which was a small one) labelled, "Please sign and leave the white copy". So it seems their standard M.O. for drivers to handle the paperwork without human (the company's) intervention. So I backed the trailer into an empty slot and unhooked it, found the one empty USA Truck trailer and hooked up to it, and sent in my "empty call" message. That came right away again.

This time I'm headed for the town of Ashdown, AR, to a facility from which I've made pickups at least thrice before. At first the pickup was set for midnight tonight, but I messaged back to dispatch that I'd be a little late for that because I'd need a 10-hour break besides the 3-hour drive over there (it was 12:30 p.m. already). So dispatch has re-set the pickup time to noon tomorrow (Sunday). I presume the load will be ready any time after midnight, so I'll get up early in the morning (probably) and go get it.

I made the drive from Pine Bluff here to Texarkana, where I've parked at the Flying J. It's on USA's network fuel list, so I bought the requisite 50 gallons to earn a shower credit so I can clean up in the morning before starting work. The load I'm picking up tomorrow is bound for a town in Massachusetts, so I have a nice, leisurely 1500-mile drive coming up. Delivery isn't 'til Thursday (1/10) morning, so I'll have plenty of time for the drive. I'll see if I can deliver maybe a day early so I can get more paying miles, of which I need as many as I can get.

I'm feeling a new sensation in my truck today--or at least one I haven't felt for a little while--heat, without mechanical influence. It had been a grey, drizzly, cool day all day 'til I neared Texarkana. Then the sun broke through the clouds and started beating down on my cab. By the time I got here (3:45-ish), the temperature outside was probably in the 60s, and with the sun on the truck I've had to open my windows to keep from overheating as I compose this report. Now (5:00 p.m.) the sun's heading downward, so I expect it'll cool off soon. But it has been nice to be outside of the truck and not shivering for the first time in a few weeks.

So that's the what's-what for the past 2 days. Check back for tomorrow's report when I fill you in on how far I've gotten on the road to MA. Thanks for reading today's brilliant composition (right!), and send me some of your own. And, as ever, keep on truckin'.