Seein' SC

DATELINE: FLORENCE, SC, 9:15 p.m. EST

Miles Today: Only 245

Back to lots of sitting around and waiting. First of all, after getting up and driving 2-1/2 hours to get to my delivery by 7:00, once again the company didn't even open up 'til 8:00. Who the *#$^%@ is setting these appointment times, anyway? Since I arrived at about 6:45, I had a bit over an hour to wait. And, of course, there were a couple other company trucks ahead of me (who had been waiting with me on Monday at the pickup), so I had to wait 'til they were done and opened up a dock slot for me. But that wasn't so bad.

After completing the delivery, I had to wait a while again--only just over an hour this time--for my next assignment. It was for a pickup in Moncks Corner, SC, not very far away from where I delivered in Hanahan. But the pickup time was 18:45 (or 6:45 p.m. for you laymen and laywomen). That would have been beyond my 14 hour driving window for the day (I started work at 4:00 this morning), so I just headed over to the pickup in hopes they could load me early. Which they did, but only after I had to wait for another truck to get loaded in the door to which I was assigned. All in all, I was there for 4-1/2 hours or so, but once they started, they loaded my trailer up reasonably quickly.

By the time I left there, I was down to 1-1/2 hours left of that 14-hour window. So I set out north for the truck stop cluster up here in Florence. My route was US highway 52, one of those "back roads" (non-Interstates) along which are few truck stops. (More accurately, none.) It turned out to be a little longer trip than I had calculated on the map (70+ miles as opposed to 60-ish), and through a bunch of towns with stoplights and lower speed limits, so I had to go just a bit over that 14 hours to get here. I'm at a TA, and I stayed here once before a few months ago. (I recognized the area and location immediately on coming upon it, but I hadn't connected the locale with the listing in my truck stop directory when checking for possible stopping places for the night.)

Anyway, my delivery is in Bethune, SC--only another 30 or so miles from here--tomorrow morning at 8:00. So I get to sleep in a bit before I get up to catch a shower and shave before hitting the road. I think I've been to the delivery site once before, but I'll be taking a different route to it--coming from the east this time instead of from the west, as I did last time. But on the map it doesn't look too difficult to do.

Well, it's almost 9:30 now and I've been up since before 4:00, so by rights I'm getting tired. Thanks for looking in today, and be sure to keep on truckin'.