Hoosier Highlights

DATELINE: LEAVENWORTH, IN, 2:45 p.m. CST

Miles Today: 399

Oy! An early day to be sure. I woke up at 11:30 last night to shower and shave before hitting the road this morning (rather, this middle of the night) at 12:30. I had a pickup scheduled for 7:00 a.m. at the other end of the state (Indiana; I started out in Gary, the pickup was in Grandview.) My load assignment listed the distance as 274 miles. However, I actually drove almost 350 miles--through wet, snowy, and icy conditions--to get there. The "official" distances are measured by straight lines from town edge to town edge, not taking the actual interstate highway routes between the two into account, hence the big discrepancy. Oh well, such is the life.

By the time I reached the pickup, I had used up 8 of the 9-3/4 hours I had available to work today. Because of the road and traffic conditions, I had kept my speed down to stay safe, especially after a couple of quick "bobbles" early on when I gave the accelerator a gentle push. So it was a long, fairly tense drive. But I made it OK, though a bit behind schedule, which couldn't be helped.

The company from which I was picking up the load only has one dock door, and another truck was at it when I arrived. Plus the company's fork lift had a flat tire that they had to fix before anybody could do any loading. So I had a bit of a wait before they could get to loading my trailer.

The wait turned out to be only an hour, then an hour after that I was done there and back rolling. Since my time was short, I obviously couldn't go very far. I've found refuge for the night at a Pilot Travel Center at this town, about an hour west of Lousiville, KY. It's been a long day after a short night of sleep, so I'm pretty bushed now. But I don't want to go to sleep yet. I want to get back on a "normal" schedule, so I'm staying up 'til around 8:00 tonight. I can go to sleep then, then get up at 4:00--well, maybe 5:00--and start tomorrow's work day after a full night's sleep.

I have a full day of driving to do tomorrow. I plan to get to a TA along I-90 in PA, just shy of the NY state line. (Remember, NY state has laws prohibiting commercial vehicles from idling, so I pretty much can't spend the night in that state during the months when it gets COLD at night. February fits that bill.) Hopefully the roads'll be clear and the winter storm system will have moved out of the areas between here and there before I get there. Check back tomorrow to see how it all went.

Thanks for checking my progress today, and every day. Entertain me with some comments of your own, or some questions, and keep on truckin'.

P.S., I updated my other blog today, too. Take a peek at it at http://ziptochips.blogspot.com.