Unstuck

DATELINE: JEFFERSON, GA, 6:15 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 444
Miles Yesterday: 337
Miles Tuesday: 645
Miles Monday: 329

First of all, apologies once more for a few days of not updating you on my whereabouts. USA's been keeping me running, late into the nights and with no spare time in my schedule. I'm hitting the road every time my daily break hits the 10-hour mark, and when I get done for the day I've been too tired to blog. Today I finally got a short day because I've used up all of my 70 hours allotted for the 8 days since I got back on the road. But that's short-lived as I gotta' hit the road at 2:15 tomorrow morning as I once again complete this 10-hour break and I get 10-1/4 hours back to work tomorrow (the 10-1/4 hours I worked last Thursday).

Anyway, no, I'm not still in Spartanburg, SC. I got out of there on Monday afternoon when I finally got the go-ahead from Dispatch to deliver my load, despite signs at the customer site that they don't take deliveries on Monday. But when I drove over (5 miles from our terminal where I'd been parked), the gate was open. I went into the office and announced myself. The first thing the guy said to me was, "You know, we don't take deliveries on Monday." But he also told me I could drop the trailer in one of the doors and take away an empty one they had there. Oh happy day!

So that went quickly, and soon I had my next assignment. It was for a pickup in Greenville, SC, so I plotted out my course and headed that way. Somewhere en route a message came in on my Qualcomm, but since I was driving on the highway I couldn't pull over to read it. When I got onto the surface streets headed to the pickup and finally hit a red light, I got to read the message. They had switched my assignment, and now I was to make for a pickup in Salem, SC.

Of course, I was on a road with no place to turn around (much less stop and figure out how to get to Salem), so I had to go a number of miles out of my way before I finally found a place for an about-face. I also had to stop in the center left-turn lane to write down the directions to the new pickup.

It turns out Salem is way back in the mountains, NW of I-85, past Clemson (the town and the U). The last 30 miles are all narrow, twisty, hilly road. I could tell it was going to be a fun drive out in the dark. Once I reached the shipper, it was late afternoon and they had a line of trucks waiting to get loaded. So, naturally, I had a bit of a wait there. But I was on my way within a couple of hours.

Since I had started the day so late, I could run well past midnight. My plan was to make it to our Roanoke, VA terminal, which was just within reach with my available hours. (I would get there about 4:00 a.m.) But I caught a break when I stopped at a truck stop outside of Mount Airy (aka, "Mayberry"), NC at 2:00 a.m. After an unsuccessful search for a parking spot in the lot, I had pulled into the fuel island to run inside to use the rest room. Just as I came out, a truck was pulling out of a parking spot right next to the building. Since I was a bit tired, I grabbed that spot for the night. Oh happy day--er, night!

Anyway, I'm going to sum up the rest of the week, since I'm getting tired again and I need to get up early once more. I took that Salem, SC load to Berwick, PA, delivering it Tuesday evening. Then I went to Fredericksburg, PA to pick up my next load. I made that pickup between midnight and 2:00 a.m., then zipped over to our former terminal in Bethel, PA, just 10 miles away, for the night. That load was bound for Buford, GA. The "funny" part is it was due at 11:59 p.m., or 22 hours after I picked it up. With a 700-mile trip and me needing a 10-hour break as soon as I made the pickup, the delivery wasn't going to happen on time. So I had some stress as my Fleet Manager seemed to think I was at fault that I couldn't do the impossible. (Where's the accountability for the idiots--er, people--that assign these loads without verifying a driver's available hours?) But I made the delivery this afternoon, and nobody at the customer site even said word one about being late.

And now I'm poised for tomorrow's pickup which, incidentally, is the same place I picked up the load that eventually got me stranded in Spartanburg last weekend. This time the load's going to Birmingham, AL, with delivery slated for 8:00 tomorrow morning. (The pickup assignment was originally set for 10:00 tonight, but I couldn't legally go then due to the hours-of-service regulations. Hence my plans for another early start tomorrow.) Happily, AL is in Central time, so I'll get an extra hour to make the journey after picking up the load.

And now I'm off to bed. Thanks for your patience during my reporting lapses. And thanks for taking a look today. Please send me copious questions and comments, and keep on truckin'.