Two Long Ones

DATELINE: LONDON, OH, 6:40 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 560
Miles Yesterday: 519

Ya' know, I haven't checked, but I suspect that there's an inverse relationship between the length of my work day and the length of my report here for that night. So in conclusion...

Just kidding. (Maybe.) Anyway, on to telling you 'bout my last 2 days. They've been long days, I haven't had a good night's sleep for a while now, and I'm very tired tonight. And I think I may be coming down with something, too; my throat's scratchy and my head's a little fuzzy (don't go suggesting that I just shave to take care of that!). So I'm gonna make this quick tonight and get right to bed.

USA Truck must really think I'm good at my job, but I think they're overdoing it; they keep asking me to do the impossible. For example, yesterday my assignment was to make a pickup at 8:00 a.m. in Franklin, PA, and deliver that load at 1:00 p.m. in Robbinsville, NJ. So that gave me 5 hours to make the drive (even less if I arrived at the pickup on time and didn't leave 'til after, when the load was complete). But I did arrive 45 minutes early and hit the road at 7:45. (That company only had 3 pallets to add to my load--it was the 3rd of 3 pickups for the load.) Anyway, it turned out to be over 400 miles from door to door, and it took 7-1/2 hours to drive it. That delivery was a drop-and-hook, so it didn't take long.

Next up, after a 45-minute wait for my next assignment, was to zip up to North Bergen, NJ, 53 miles away, for a pickup 45 minutes later. Another impossibility. But I made the drive in an hour. The pickup was another drop-and-hook, after which I only had enough available work hours to head to the Vince Lombardi Service Plaza along the NJ Turnpike for the night. When I arrived there, dusk was falling, and the place was pretty well filled up. (This it the place with a HUGE truck parking lot--I've written about it before.) But I did manage to find a good spot. Instead of blogging, I took a goodly walk around and through the lot for about an hour for some much-needed exercise. Then I hit the sack.

By the way, the load I picked up last night was headed for Columbus, OH. It was yet another case of asking the impossible. The delivery time on the assignment was 8:00 this morning, or 13 hours after I completed the pickup. Since I needed to "take 10" right away, there was no way I was going to make the 527-mile trip by 8:00. When I sent that note in to Dispatch, nobody ever responded, so I took it as a just-get-there-when-I-can mandate.

So I got up and hit the road at 6:00 this morning and made it to the delivery at 4:45 this afternoon. That was yet another drop-and-hook, so after I grabbed an empty trailer I headed west towards Vandalia. I'm going there 'cuz I've been assigned to take a certification class there tomorrow from 8:00 to 4:00. I think that's 'cuz I've asked to become a trainer for the company's Apprenticeship Training Program. So getting started towards that (and the extra trainer income) is good. I didn't quite have enough hours left to get all the way to Vandalia, so I've stopped at a Pilot here between C'bus and Vandalia. I'll get up early and head to the terminal in the morning. Another factor swaying my decision to stop here is I can grab a shower and shave here at the beginning of the day--the terminal still doesn't have working showers.

OK, I promised to make this a short report. Hard to do when I have 2 days to cover. But now I'm done and ready for some much-needed rest. Thanks for following me around the country. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.