Charleston,MO

Holy cow! Can it get any hotter or muggier?? I am sitting here in Charleston waiting to get loaded. It is 0953 hours and my dash reading shows 117 degrees!! I got out to sweep the trailer and I think I just lost 5 lbs. It is crazy hot out here!

Early yesterday morning J got us into Franklin,IN where we made our first drop at 0300 in the morning. From there he headed down to a Flying J and we got out and had breakfast and a shower. We had one more drop but it wasn't until 1300 hours. J called and checked with them and they told us that they were busy but they had plenty of parking so we could come on down if we wanted to and they would work us in early if they could. That sounded good to us. That way I could get parked and J could get some good non moving sleep.

J hit the bunk and I took off to drive the short 15 miles to our final destination. When I checked in, she asked me if I was dropping. I didn't know I could drop, I thought it was a live unload. She said I could drop. Sweet! The sooner I get this dropped the sooner I can get another load. I went and parked the trailer and unhooked only to find that there were no empty trailers. I sent a message in asking where to get an empty. A few minutes later they tell me to go to the Great Dane dealership and pick up an empty there that had been repaired. After I picked that up, I headed to the Flying J to wait for our next load. That last appointment wasn't until 1300 and I ended up ready to roll with a new empty at the Flying J at 1115 hours. I love when things work to our benefit.

For all the good luck I was having that morning, it wasn't to continue throughout the afternoon. Well, I guess that depends on how you look at it. We finally got our next load assignment around 1345 hours. However it didn't pick up until this morning. J was sleeping and the pick-up was 299 miles away. Our appointment showed that we could pick up today between 0630 and 1200. I decided that we would just stay parked where we were and leave later that night. If I would have left then, I would have gotten to this area around 2000 hours or so and I hate getting to a truck stop in the evening because it is hard to find a spot to park.

Once J got up, we had lunch and decided on a plan of action. He headed out around midnight and drove about 200 miles. We stopped in Mt Vernon, IL when I got up and had breakfast and then I took over. I had to make a stop at the Pilot here in Charleston before I came to the shipper because we needed load locks. Then I made it to the shipper just a little after 0800 hours. When I get here I find out that I am #20 in line. Great! Then I get a message from my FM saying that they may not load me until tomorrow. WTF? I ran in and checked with the office to find out. If we aren't loading until tomorrow then I am heading out and getting a hotel for the night. It turns out that the office told me they would load me today. Damn. And the swimming pool at the hotel was already sounding wonderful. Guess it wasn't meant to be. So instead, I am sitting here in the back muddy parking lot of Black Gold waiting for my turn to be loaded down with potatoes that are destined to become potato chips!