OH to ON and Back to OH

DATELINE: MANTUA, OH, 8:00 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 581
Miles Yesterday: 413

Wow, I knew I'd had a long day today, but somehow it didn't seem like that many miles today, but I did drive a full 11 hours. I was surprised when I added them all up. But I'm already ahead of myself. I need to fill you in on 2 days. So I'll get right to it.

First of all, the reason I didn't (couldn't) blog last night is because my assignment yesterday was to haul a load into Canada, where my Verizon card doesn't have coverage. (Well, it may actually work, but I'd have to pay roaming charges for my online time there, and as slowly as I compose these things, that'd be a pretty penny.) I got up at 5:30 to request my assignment, hoping I could get my day started nice 'n early. (Incidentally, I was feeling much better--still had some cold symptoms, but my energy level was back up.) Naturally I had to wait a couple hours before the assignment came in. It was to grab a loaded trailer there in the Vandalia yard and take it to its destination in Milton, Ontario, and deliver it when I got there. (BTW, when the assignment message came in, the delivery date was Friday, the day before!)

Milton's just west of Toronto, so I was looking at 8 hours of driving to get there: 4 hours up to Detroit, then a right turn and 4 more hours along Highway 401. Of course, in the middle of that, is the stop for Customs clearance at a spot below the Ambassador Bridge. A refresher: at that stop I go into the office (a trailer in a dirt lot) with my load info, the clerk there faxes the info to a broker, the broker gets the entry number from Customs, passes that back to the clerk, who gives it to me with the OK to head across the bridge. They say that's supposed to take an hour. Hah! The next time it takes an hour for me will be the first time. Yesterday it took 2 hours. All the while I'm sitting there (in my truck most of the time) thinking that it's getting later...by the time I get to Milton the truck stop there (I've been there once before, so I know there's one at that exit) will be full, and who knows how far I'll have to go to find a place to park for the night.

Yada yada, long story short, I made the delivery (a quick drop-and-hook) and zipped over to the truck stop. Lo and behold, the place was wide open. It was about 8:00 p.m. by then but, being the weekend, the demand was down. So all my stressing about the parking availability was for naught. Now, I did have a couple more hours available to work, but Dispatch (thankfully) didn't find another load for me to go pick up last night. Instead, they gave me a pickup in Bay City, MI at noon today.

So this morning I got up at 5:30 in order to hit the road at 6:00 when I completed my 10-hour respite. Yada yada, long story short, the drive went fine. This time though I came back to MI via the Blue Water Bridge betwixt Sarnia and Port Huron instead of going all the way to Windsor to cross back to Detroit. A much shorter route. I've picked up loads at this company in Bay City 3 or 4 (or 5?) times before, so 'twas easy to find...save for the detour around the Zilwaukee Bridge on northbound I-75, but they had the detour clearly marked all the way so it wasn't a problem. The pickup was another D&H, so I was done there within 30 minutes.

I'm taking this load to Carlisle, PA, to deliver it late tomorrow morning, so my route south out of MI from Bay City afforded an opportunity to swing by my "home" truck stop in Dexter and see Mrs. R.T. briefly for a late lunch. It's always a bonus when I get a MI load in the middle of my tours of duty (this one's going 'til right before Election Day) so I can stop by and see whichever of my family members are available. It is better when I can actually stop there for the night instead of just a quick "howdy-do" on my way through, but I'll take what I can get. Good thing this time 'twas on a weekend so the Mrs. was free to drive on over in the middle of the afternoon.

Back to work after the late lunch, I drove the rest of the hours I had available for the day to get here to the "Brady's Leap" Service Plaza along the Ohio Turnpike. I gotta get up and running again tomorrow as soon as my DOT-forced break hits 10 hours in order to get to my delivery as close to on-time as possible. (I don't think I'm quite gonna make it by 10:00, as I can't roll 'til 5:30 and I have over 250 miles to go.) So it's once again time to wrap up this report and head to bed.

Thanks for taking a peek at today's report, and be a pal and send me some comments and questions. And, as ever, keep on truckin'.