Hagerstown, MD

DATELINE: HAGERSTOWN, MD, 8:50 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 522
Miles Yesterday: 573

Just a quick update tonight 'cuz I gotta' get up early (4:00 a.m.) tomorrow to run down to my next pickup. But here's the nutshell version of the last 2 days.

Yesterday I drove from Oak Grove, MO to Vandalia, OH. I couldn't write an update for y'all there 'cuz there's not a good place to plug in and blog at that terminal.

This morning I got rolling at 7:00 and headed for my delivery in Woodland, PA, around a 400-mile drive. I got there at 2:30, made the drop-and-hook delivery, and got my next assignment almost immediately. I had the chance to plot out my route to the next pickup even before I left.

The next pickup is 10:00 tomorrow (Sunday) morning in Franklin, VA, at a company at which I've made pickups 3 times before now, so I know where I'm goin'. But it's almost 400 miles from today's delivery: are loads so hard to find on weekends that they need to send me that far to find one? Anyway, I made it to a Pilot here in Hagerstown for the night. I could have driven another 1-1/2 hours or so, but truck stops and rest areas are few and far between along my route from here to where I would have run out of available hours. So I'll be up early tomorrow to complete the drive south.

After picking up the load tomorrow, I get to haul it up to Connecticut for a Monday morning delivery. I think I'll have just enough hours (of my 70-in-8-days) to complete the mission, but it's going to be r-e-a-l close. USA certainly is keeping me busy these days. But that's good for the ol' paycheck. On the other hand, my truck is due for maintenance, but I've been too busy to get that taken care of. (I've tried to get appointments at terminals a couple times, but no appointments were available when I was passing through.)

It's time to head to bed. Thanks for dropping by today, and keep on truckin'.