White Time in PA

DATELINE: CARLISLE, PA, 9:20 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 374

Kind of a short day today, as I got to sleep in 'til 7:00 this morning and finished up at about 5:30 p.m. But I got to drive through my first snowstorm of the season as I plowed my way across western PA. Ironically (or merely coincidentally) enough, the snowfall didn't start 'til just after I had passed the exit to Yukon, PA. So I should have expected the winter weather. But it didn't impede my progress any, and I made it here (the Pilot in Carlisle) without incident.

As far as my load situation went, the pickup was a live load just outside of Columbus, OH, and took a bit longer than usual, almost 2 hours. But since I had a fairly short drive to make, it wasn't a big deal. You may recall from yesterday's post that this load's scheduled delivery date was Friday morning. However, I got word from my Fleet Manager shortly after picking up the load that he had moved the delivery up to tomorrow morning. So I don't have to sit around for a day. That's good for racking up paying miles, but it does lead to one concern.

I'm scheduled to return home on Monday for my next stretch of home time. Monday will be my 8th day since I started back up after my 34-hour restart last weekend. And I burned u p a lot of hours the first 2 days back (12-1/4 and 12 hours, respectively). I do have the 70-work-hours-in-8-days regulation to contend with, so I'm going to have to make sure Dispatch dispatches me properly over the next few days to make sure I can get home within that regulation. I'll send 'em a note after I make the delivery tomorrow.

After arriving here, I got back to online poker after a couple days off and found I still have to scratch and claw my way into the money in the tournaments I'm playing. (Just the Double or Nothing Sit-n-Go variety tonight.) I played 5 of 'em and cashed in 3 (going lose, win, lose, win, win), so I finally wound up ahead--by a whole 50 cents. Tough way to make a living. But because of that time at the tables, the evening has crept by, and I need to get myself to bed right quick. Seems I'll need to get up at 4:00 tomorrow to clean up and fuel up my truck before heading down the road to my delivery. That's set for 7:00 a.m., and I figure I'm about an hour away. With the cold weather and potentially slick roads, that'll leave plenty of time to make my way over there good and safely.

So for now, time to wrap up. Thanks for today's peek at my offering here. Please let me hear from you, and keep on truckin'.