Back On the Air

DATELINE: VANDALIA, OH, 9:18 a.m. EDT

My apologies, faithful followers of my trucking storyline, for my lack of updates the last couple of days. It seems western South Carolina must be a bit behind the times. I could not get an internet connection through my Verizon card at the places I stopped, hence I could not put my story out on these airwaves. I'll catch you up today, though.

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, when last I reported, I was in northern Kentucky for the night, on my way to SC. That night went fine, as did the drive to Spartanburg the next day. I reached USA's terminal in that fair city around noon (after starting the day's drive at 4:00 a.m.). Since my delivery was scheduled for 1:00 a.m. about an hour's drive away, I was in fine shape to take my 10-hour break before I would need to hit the road. The problem was, I wasn't tired enough to sleep much. I tried, and did snooze off-and-on for about 3 hours, but that was it for a while. I spend some time in the terminal's drivers' lounge watching some TV (they have about 16 new, big, soft, leather recliners and a big-screen plasma TV), trying not to use much energy. I also took the opportunity to use a shower there, too. I then tried again to get some sleep, and got a little bit before it was time to go.

The delivery went fine--I had to back my trailer into a dock, unhook it, then find an empty in the customer's lot. After hooking up the empty, I sent in my "empty call" message to dispatch to let them know I was ready for my next pickup assignment. It came at about 1:45 a.m.: Pick up a load about 30-ish miles away at 8:00 a.m. So I had a few hours to kill. I had noted on my atlas a few rest areas along the highway within 20 or so miles of the exit I would need to take to get to the pickup (which, incidentally, was the same exit I had taken to get to the delivery), so I headed out to see it I could find an empy parking space in one. At that time of night, rest areas' truck parking spots are generally full, but in the bigger ones I occasionally find one or two openings. I found a spot in the Georgia Welcome Center just across the border and bedded down for some rest, even though my shift's 14-hour clock was still running. (I wouldn't have enough time for a full 10-hour break before my pickup.)

At the appropriate time, I awoke and headed back up the road to my pickup. Incidentally, I had made a pickup at this location once before, last month sometime, so I was familiar with where I was going. I got there right at 8:00, and discovered a couple other trucks ahead of me in line. So I had to wait for my turn to back into the dock and get my trailer loaded. By the time that was complete a couple hours later, I only had a bit over an hour left of my allotted 14, so I wasn't going to get very far that day (yesterday, a.k.a. Friday). Fortunately, there is a TA (Travel Centers of America) truck stop on USA's network list about an hour up the highway on the route I needed to take. (By the way, this load is destined for the Toledo, OH area.)

I spent my requisite 10 hours at the TA, considering taking some extra time to revert back to a daytime shift, but my dispatcher sent me a message asking for my ETA back to the Vandalia, OH terminal. Seems he'd like me to drop it there since the load isn't due for delivery until Monday morning. That way they could get me on another load and rolling up the paying miles instead of taking 3 days to go the 650 miles for this load. So I had at least one more overnight drive to make. I left that spot (the TA is in Duncan, SC) at 9:30 p.m. and headed north and west, back through parts of both Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Ohio to here in Vandalia (again, that's just north of Dayton). I arrived here just after 8:00 a.m.

And now you're caught up with me. I'm on my (at least) 10-hour break now, waiting to hear if they're reassigning me. If they do, I'm hoping the load's schedule will allow me to take just a bit of extra time here before I have to leave so I can get back on a daytime schedule. I'm finding it hard to sleep much during the daylight hours, even when I am tired. I much prefer to get up early and hit the road around 4:00 a.m., then find a place to spend the night in the mid-afternoon. As I found out during my training period, you can't see much of the countryside driving overnight when it's dark. And that adds to the monotony of the job, which is bad enough when you can see the changing scenery as you move along the road. But that's enough complaining.

Thanks again for indulging me by reading this stuff. I do look forward to your comments, so please keep those coming. And keep on truckin'.