A Day Among the Illini

DATELINE: EFFINGHAM, IL, 7:00 p.m. CST

Miles Today: 444

Another busy day, but not too bad. Just a 3-hour drive to my delivery this morning, an hour or less at the delivery, little-to-no wait for my next assignment, a 60-mile drive to the pickup (with a 1/2-hour break for lunch en route), in and out of the pickup in 45 minutes, then haul tail for the rest of the day.

As you recall from yesterday, my delivery was in Waukegan, IL, set for 9:00 a.m. CST. I started at 6:00 a.m. EST from Benton Harbor, MI and arrived just a bit after 8:00 CST, and they assigned me a dock door right away. 'Twas a live unload, so after backing to the door (which took a bit of maneuvering because of their lot layout and a big mound of snow), I waited in my cab while they unloaded the trailer. The process went pretty quickly--they even started right away--but I had time for a little light reading during my wait. After picking up my paperwork when they were done, I sent in my "empty call" message so dispatch would send me my next assignment.

While I was pulling my truck from the dock, then shutting the doors, the assignment came in. My next pickup was in Batavia, IL, just a bit west of Chicago along I-88. I headed right over that way, but stopped at the Lake Forest Oasis along I-94 for a quick bite to eat. Pickup was scheduled for 12:30 p.m., and it was only 9:45, so I had some time for a leisurely break. I took 30 minutes, then set back out.

I arrived at about 11:15, checked in, and got assigned a dock right away again. This was a smaller company, so I got prompt attention there. Loading took about 20 minutes (or less), during which I just waited inside the dock. Then I had to pull away from the door, secure the load with a couple of "load locks" (expanding bars that press against both side walls of the trailer), close up the trailer, and make my log entry for the pickup. So I was outta' there around noon, CST.

This load is headed for Pine Bluff, AR, a little ways southeast of Little Rock according to my atlas. I haven't been to that area of USA Truck's home state yet, so I'm interested in seeing it. I'm guessing it's just flatland like the rest of the eastern half of that state is. Anyway, delivery isn't 'til Saturday afternoon, so I have plenty of time to get there. I'm heading down I-57 from Chitown, down the length of the state. I've made it to Effingham today, and I'll head to our West Memphis, AR terminal tomorrow. I may even head over to Little Rock tomorrow after stopping by West Memphis so I'll have a shorter drive on Saturday before making the delivery, but we'll see. As for tonight, I've stopped yet again at the Flying J here. Across the street is a TA with a Popeye's Chicken inside, so I walked over there for dinner, as has become my custom here in E'ham. Love that Popeye's spicy fried chicken--yum! (I park at the FJ 'cuz they have a bigger, easier-to-negotiate lot.)

Now to answer reader jerry's query, "Umpteen years ago, truckers all had CB radios. Are they still in use?"
Yes indeed, CBs are the norm for trucksters. Many companies to which we deliver or from which we pick up loads use CBs at their sites to communicate with drivers to let them know:
a) to which dock door to proceed, and/or
b) when their load/unload is complete.
I don't have a CB (and I don't really want one), so I make do with my cell phone and/or just go inside the office. Not having one hasn't been a hardship at all. Many truckers who do have 'em just keep them off most of the time, anyway, because of the many yahoos out there who just love attention and have to broadcast insults to other drivers around them or other inane what-not. So I'm not missing that.

So that's today's report. Thanks for taking a look. I love getting comments and questions from y'all, so keep 'em coming. And, as ever, keep on truckin'.