Mystery Light

DATELINE: PRESCOTT, AR, 6:45 P.M. CST

Miles Today: 487

Almost everything went as planned today. I got outta' bed at 5:15, showered and shaved, and returned to my truck to get rolling at 6:00. I turned it on, switched on all the lights, then hopped out to make sure they were all glowing. Nope, my passenger-side headlight was out. So I called the Breakdown Department at HQ to find out what they wanted me to do about it.

What we decided was for me just to stop at the West Memphis terminal on my way past there (since it was along my intended route for the day) and get the headlight replaced. I then waited 'til 7:00, for the skies to lighten a bit, before I hit the road. So I started out an hour behind schedule.

The driving went fine, and I reached West Memphis around 11:30. I checked in at the shop and they instructed me to pull my truck up in front of one of the bay doors. I had left the lights on and as I was walking back to the truck, I noticed the "bad" one was indeed on. Go figure. I unhooked the trailer and drove the cab over to the shop anyway to have the guy take a peek. I needed to take my permit book inside the shop so they could update it with new pages for this year, so I didn't get a chance to see what the guy working on the light did, whether he replaced it anyway or just found a loose connection and corrected that. Either way, when my permit book was ready, so was my truck. I hooked my trailer back up and headed back out to the road. In and out within 30 minutes.

The rest of my work day was just monotonous driving, 4 more hours across Arkansas. I've stopped at the TA in this town, where I've stayed on a few previous occasions. I arrived here at 3:45 p.m. As soon as my break hits the 10-hour mark at 1:45 tomorrow morning, I'll need to get back underway in order to make it to my delivery in Fort Worth by my 6:00 appointment. I think I'll have just enough time to make it with a fuel stop in Texarkana en route. Boy, I'm really looking forward to those several hours of driving in deep darkness. NOT!

Anyway, I'll need to get to bed right quick now so I can catch a few hours of shut-eye before the beep-beep...beep-beep...beep-beep...beep-beep of my watch alarm annoys me out of slumber in the morning. (Morning? Heck, it'll still be the middle of the night.) Thanks for peeking in. Send me your questions and/or comments, and keep on truckin'.