An April Fool Joke?

DATELINE: STILL HUTCHINS, TX, 9:30 a.m. CDT

Look at this, a rare morning update before I've even done anything today. Well, that's not true. I have done a bit so far. Here's the tale.

I got up at 4:00 this morning to let Dispatch know that I was ready to go back to work, and trigger them to send me a load assignment. Figuring it'd take a while, as it normally does, I stretched back out on my bunk in an attempt to drop back off to sleep. Which, of course, I couldn't despite feeling tired. But that didn't matter much because an assignment came in 35 minutes later.

I'm to pick up a load in Garland, TX (on the northeast corner of Dallas) and haul it to Orlando, FL, a good 1000-mile-plus load. They just haven't told me the expected delivery date/time yet. However, the pickup is not scheduled 'til 4:00 this afternoon! So I gotta spend some more time waiting here at this Love's, fighting the call to overeat at the Carl's Jr. Well, I did allow myself another Steak & Egg Burrito for breakfast before 5:00. (Not just steak & eggs in those things, they also have grilled onions and peppers and Pepper Jack cheese. And they're big!)

Back in my cab after breakfast, I still couldn't fall back asleep, so I finally got up, pulled down my laptop, and played some more poker online. That was a worthwhile effort, as I had a pretty good session. Read about it here: http://ziptochips.blogspot.com/. But now again I have a goodly while before I can head off to my pickup.

I think I'll read and heat up something for lunch in the interim, then head up the road to a nearby TA or Flying J to use one of my shower credits and get cleaned up. That'd be better than paying for a shower here.

Interesting weather note: when I got up at 4:00 and went inside, it was still warm and humid here. But 30 minutes ago when I went back in, the temperature had dropped to 55 degrees (according to the thermostat in my cab). I wasn't expecting that.

Since my pickup is late this afternoon, I really don't want to drive a whole overnight shift. That'd cause problems with finding a place to park early tomorrow morning when my driving window closes. (And because I'll have been awake all day today.) So my plan is just to drive to our Shreveport, LA terminal this evening and spend the night there. I've only been to that terminal once so far, and haven't spent a night there, so it's high time I did. That's just a 3-hour drive or so, so I'll take a 10-hour break when I get there before resuming my trip early tomorrow. Of course, that strategy depends on when I have to get the load to its destination, since I don't know that yet. Send some wishes my way that I get ample time to make the Shreveport stop.

That's my morning report, I hope you enjoyed the bonus coverage of my truckin' job. Mayhaps I'll write again when I finish up tonight, if I'm not too worn down. Thanks for taking the time to read this dreck, and keep on truckin'.