Runnin' and Runnin'

DATELINE: TAMPA, FL, 5:30 p.m. EST

Whew! Finally some time to breathe and blog. Sorry for missing the last 3 days, but USA's been keeping me running and, with delays at shippers and deliveries, I've just had time at night after parking to grab dinner and pop open the laptop for a quick update on Facebook. (News Flash: I now have a Facebook page. Those of you who know my true identity and have Facebook accounts can look me up.) I've been too tired each night to compose reports for this blog, so I've just dropped in quick updates via Facebook's "What are you doing right now?" feature to let people know where I get to each night. (Tip: If you go looking for a new Reluctant Trucker posting and don't find one on any given day, you can check Facebook for that info. Those of you not yet on Facebook, go ahead and sign up, then add me as a friend.) Anyway, I have some time now, though I'm tired again, so here's a quick catch-up of my last few days. Let me emphasize: This will be a QUICK update; I'm too tired to go into lengthy details tonight. But I'll let you know where I've been and where I'm going next.

Wednesday was a long day, though not by on-duty measure. I woke up early--before 6:00--though not intentionally. My delivery wasn't 'til 11:00 a.m. only 30 miles away, so I would have liked to have slept later. Oh well. But I made the delivery (traffic jam en route), then my next pickup was from the same company. That load was bound for delivery the next day in Batesville, AR (northeast of Little Rock), so I made it to Prescott, AR for the night.

Thursday morning I was up in time to get rolling as my break reached the 10-hour mark. The drive to and delivery in Batesville went fine, then I was off to Stuttgart, AR for another pickup. I arrived by the scheduled time for that pickup, but the shipper was busy and slow, so it took over 3 hours before I was done there and on my way. That load's destination was Harahan, LA (a southwest 'burb of N'awlins), due for delivery Friday morning at 11:00. So Thursday I just had enough available time remaining to get to a TA in Tallulah, LA.

Friday: Up again to roll at my break's 10-hour mark (5:30 a.m.). Arrived at the delivery just as a thunderstorm deluge let loose, so I had to open up my trailer doors in the rain. Slow unloading process; almost 2 hours from arrival to departure. But I had my next pickup location before I left: I was to pick up a load from another driver at a rest area along I-10 by Bay Saint Louis, MS. I've stopped at that rest area a couple times in the past on my way by, so I knew it. (There's a MS Welcome Center there, as well as the place to catch tours of the nearby Stennis Space Center. So it's rememberable.) It took me a bit over an hour to get there, but the other driver was already there waiting for me and the swap (my empty for his loaded trailer) went right quick. That load's destination was a company in Tampa, FL, so I hit the road eastward. I gave in to fatigue just a tad short (by 90 minutes) of my workday's 14-hour mark, and halted for the night at the FL Welcome Center/Rest Area outside of Pensacola.

This morning I got up at 3:45 a.m. (CST) so I could roll at 4:00. The load's original delivery time was set for 11:00, but it would have been mathematically impossible to cover the distance and fit in my 10-hour break from the time I picked it up. Another case of the company asking me to do the impossible. Not much I could do about it, so I just let Dispatch know my ETA for the delivery (2:00 p.m.) and hit the road. 'Twas a long drive (8-1/4 hours), but it and the delivery went relatively OK. So after leaving there I headed over to the TA in this town. My next pickup is back up in the FL panhandle (in the town of Freeport) Monday morning, so I could stay here for the night, then drive the 350 miles towards Freeport tomorrow. A bonus: This TA is one of the few on USA's fuel network since the change to nearly exclusively Pilots, so I could fill up my truck's tanks and earn a shower credit. PLUS I'll earn enough bonus points that I'll have enough of them to buy a shower when I don't have a shower credit available. (I've had that just-short balance for months now.) So I've earned 2 showers with 1 fuel purchase, and I'll be able to stay at TAs a couple times now and get cleaned up in the morning before starting my day. Cool!

And that gets you caught up with me. I apologize again for the 3 nights without reporting, but I gotta' sleep when I can. Thanks for your patience--both in waiting for a new report and for slogging through my drivel. ;-) And be sure to keep on truckin'.