Sittin' at the Dock All the Day

DATELINE: CAYCE, SC, 8:15 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 286

Well this day certainly sucked. Only because I was unable to get more paying miles in, once again due to circumstances beyond my control. Here's the story.

I got up at 3:15 this morning so I could shower and shave before rolling at 4:00. It took me a long time to fall asleep last night, so I didn't get much sleep (maybe 5 hours) before my alarm roused me. But that's OK, I had the promise of a good day with lots of miles. I hit the road on time, but didn't get to my delivery 'til an hour late. Let's just say that the state of South Carolina needs to do a better job with its signage at highway (not expressway) intersections. It can take quite a while to find a place to turn around on those 2-lane country roads.

Nobody at the delivery site even made mention of my tardiness, and the delivery went real quick for a live unload. I was in and out of there in under an hour. Then I bopped down the road just a ways to a roadside clearing to wait for my next load assignment. And that came in rather quickly, too. My mission: Drive over to Gaston, SC (up near Columbia) and pick up a load bound for a Friday evening delivery in Hagerstown, MD. Pickup time was set for 11:00, and it was now 9:15. The route to Gaston would be all state and US highways (SC-125, US-301, and US-321) going through small towns, so 1:45 to get there seemed about right. And it was: I arrived at just a bit before 11:00. Then the fun started.

First, the shipping clerks at the site didn't know the pickup number USA had given me for the load, so I had to get back in my truck and communicate w/ Dispatch to get a PO (Purchase Order) number for the load. That took maybe 20 minutes, and once with a number the clerks could match up, they assigned me a dock.

After completing the "docking maneuver", I sat and waited. And heated up some lunch in the microwave in the "drivers' lounge". (Using the term loosely--it's just the reception area where drivers check in, kind of like in a doctor's or dentist's office, but not furnished as well. This place had a m'wave, a couple of vending machines, a TV hanging from the ceiling, one plastic chair, and a table on which the 'mwave was sitting.) And ate my lunch back in my truck. And waited some more. And some more. And some more. And napped in my driver's seat for a bit. And waited some more. And worked a number of puzzles in a copy of Games magazine that I picked up while at home.

Long story short, they had some sort of breakdown in the plant, so they couldn't get the product that was to go on my trailer 'til they fixed it. Finally, just as my 14-hour window for driving today was closing up, they resumed loading my trailer, and finished up fairly quickly. So just after 6:00, I was finally able to get my paperwork, pull from the dock, close up the trailer, weigh my truck on their scale (this place has every truck get weights as they come in and go out), and head out.

Because I was out of my 14-hour window, all I could do was head to the nearest truck stop or rest area to camp out for the night--no more paying miles today. Fortunately, there's a Pilot Travel Center right where I'd get on I-77, the route I need to take north, so I didn't even have to get on the highway to search for refuge. And they had plenty of open spots, to boot! So I didn't have to violate the hours of service reg's too badly to find a place for the night.

I would have preferred for the pickup to have taken maybe 6 hours fewer, and been able to get that far up the road towards Hagerstown, but now I just have to do the mad dash thing tomorrow. Hagerstown's 500+ miles away,and with a VERY heavy load and a mountainous route, it'll take me about my full 11 hours of driving to get there tomorrow. If the pickup had been of a normal duration, I'd probably be in southern VA now, either Fort Chiswell or Roanoke. But that's just how things go in this truckin' job.

I'm told the delivery time, 6:30 p.m., is a set appointment--rather than first-come, first-served--so it won't do me any good to get there early. So I can sleep in a little bit in the morning, 'til maybe 5:30 or so. I'll shoot for hitting the road as soon as I can after that, and aim to get to the delivery between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Wish me luck that the roads are clear.

Thanks for looking in today. Let me know what you want to know about, and keep on truckin'.