Bouncing Around Big D

DATELINE: WACO, TX, 8:00 p.m. CDT

Miles Today: 258

Well the sun has rose and the sun has set, and I still ain't out of Texas yet. Today just didn't go as I expected, which means I should have expected something like it, especially since it's time to be heading towards home. But here's the story.

I got up at 4:30 this mawnin' so I could clean up before heading off to my 6:00 a.m. delivery. I got rolling at 5:30 in Hutchins, which is just southeast of Dallas, and arrived right on time in Garland, on "Big D's" northeast corner. Nothing notable about the delivery, except that I recognized the place as once to which I've delivered once before. They had me done by 7:15, and I pulled out onto the street and parked along the curb to wait for my next assignment.

That initial wait took almost an hour, then I was reminded why, as my requested home date nears (this time it's Saturday), I need to remind the office folk when that is. I gotta' stop assuming they look at that info (it's on their computer screens when they assign loads to drivers). Anyway, the pickup was at another company about 2 miles away--another company from which I'd made a pickup once before. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that the load was headed west, when I need to be started east. (Well, and north, too.) The load was (still is, actually) destined for 3 stops, the first in Lubbock, TX, and the other two in small towns in very eastern New Mexico. I would have liked to have completed that run, because I don't get west of Dallas very often--usually only as far as Fort Worth. (But I did take a load to the Lubbock area once before.) And I haven't trucked in New Mexico yet, so that would have added a new state to my resume. Alas, the siren song of home was calling, so I had to voice my objection to that assignment.

That led to another hour-plus of waiting for a new load, instructions to make the pickup and further instructions for a drop or swap, or direction to just pick it up, make the deliveries, and stop whining about getting home late again. Eventually word came down: "Go make the pickup and we're working on a swap". If I didn't hear from them (Dispatch) about a swap by the time the load was complete, I was to just get started on the way towards Lubbock.

The pickup was set for 11:00, and it still wasn't even 10:00, so I just sat and waited a little more. At 10:00 I did head over to the pickup site. I recalled from my previous visit there that if you're early, they make you wait along the curb on the street 'til they call you in. (Drivers do check in at the intercom by the gate when we arrive so they know we're there and which load we're picking up. They also take our cell phone numbers to make the call at the appointed hour.) I figured that being within an hour of the scheduled appointment, I had a chance of getting in early. I did, but not 'til about 10:45, after a 30-minute curbside wait. (I did a lot of waiting today.)

The load went pretty smoothly and quickly, although they do have kind of a small area to maneuver the truck around in, especially in the docks at the end of the building, where I was assigned. But I made it in alright, especially after the truck in the space next to my target left and made the move immeasurably easier.

Whew, this report is getting long already, and I'm suddenly getting tired. (That happens after a 14-hour workday that encompassed only 6-1/2 hours of actual work: driving, site check-in, and paperwork duties.) And I haven't even told you yet how I was on my way westward, just past Fort Worth, an hour into the drive, when Dispatch finally let me know that they'd arranged for me to drop the load at a drop yard we use in back in Dallas. And how I had to drive that hour back. And how I had to wait (of course) for over an hour after dropping the load there for my next assignment. And how the new one sent me south, (again, not the direction I need to go), to a pickup at 8:00 in the morning in Jarrell, TX. And how Jarrell is 150 miles south of Dallas. And how I made it as far as Waco before my 14-hour window for this shift ran out. And how after I make the pickup in the morning (after driving another hour first to get there and make a fuel stop en route), I need to hustle 'cuz that load is due for delivery in Urbana, OH on Saturday morning. At least as a result of all my inactivity today, I'll have plenty of my 70 hours available for the trip back to the Midwest.

Oh well, I need to wrap up and get to bed, although I can sleep in 'til about 5:30 tomorrow. (Did I mention that, after posting last night's report, I didn't get much more sleep? Just couldn't fall asleep, and when I did, I kept waking up. That may have something to do with today's fatigue.) Anyway, I'm at the Flying J down here where I've stayed on multiple occasions previously. I guess today's theme, besides "Waiting", was "Familiar Ground". (I'm also headed back south on I-35, which I just drove northbound yesterday on my trip from Edinburg.)

Thanks for following my crazy, mixed-up goings-on. Please do send me your comments and questions and, as always, keep on truckin'.