Brazil,IN

I covered some ground today! I'm worn out!

Ok, so after Iposted yesterday, I sat for a while there at the receiver, US Cold Storage in Bethlehem,PA while my travel agent, aka Dispatcher, decided what he was going to do with me. Since they didn't have any empty trailers there, I was stuck until they emptied one or until dispatch sent me somewhere else to go get one.

Finally around 1000 hrs, I get a message from dispatch to go about 60 miles to pick up a trailer, preferably an older one that still runs when the back doors are open, for a load he was looking at giving me. As soon as he sent me that message, the yark jockey came over and let me know that door 46 was empty and I could have that trailer. Sweet! So I go over and hook up to the trailer, do my pre-trip on it and pull out away from the dock and parked next to the curb in their yard. As I was parking there, I got my new work assignment. They wanted me to go about 720 miles for right at $600. I sent a message saying, "Under a $1 a mile???" to which I get a response of "That is the normal rate from this shipper".

I decide to run into the restroom before I commit to the load because I am seriously debating refusing that load. On top of the crappy pay, it is also a hazmat load. When I get back to the truck I am about to send a message a message refusing the load and I get a message back saying "Hold tight. Don't leave yet. Checking on another load". Good thing since I wasn't going to take that one. LOL

A few minutes later I get a new work assignment picking up at the place I am currently at, US Cold Storage, at 1400. THAT is more like it! It goes 2300 miles to Phoenix,AZ and pays about 4.5 times as much as the first one. Momma is happier with that now. :) So I send in a message accepting that load. After I do that I go find the yard jockey and tell him that I don't need the trailer anymore since I am picking up the trailer that is being loaded in dock 49. He has me go drop it and then as soon as I pull away from my empty I see that he has told another Prime driver, who was also waiting, that he could now have that trailer.

After I got that all figured out, I headed over and backed under the trailer in door 49 and sat there to wait for them to get it loaded. Since they knew I was there waiting, they got it loaded pretty quickly and I was out of there a good two hours before my actual appointment time.

I headed out with plans of stopping in Carlisle,PA for J and I to switch. He woke up a bit before we got there and we came up with a plan. We went in and got a shower, ate dinner and did laundry. Then we decided to stay there the night. We are both low on hours. We figured if we stayed there the night, he would get a restart on his hours. Then hopefully when we deliver this load, I will be able to get a restart on my hours then we will be good to go for a while.

Having made that decision, I got a good night of non-moving sleep and got up this morning at 0230 and by about 0330 I was headed out. We stopped and switched in Brazil,IN which gave me a 590 mile day. I could have made 600, but I really had to go to the restroom! :)

Currently the weather is rainy and dreary here on the eastern side of IL that we just now crossed into. I need to go check the weather and see what is in store for J tonight while he is driving!

Also, not that anyone that reads this will know this person, except Michelle, but I would like to ask for prayers, thoughts, well wishes, whatever it is that you do. I found out from Michelle this morning that my old boss, Brenda, lost her daughter last night in a traffic accident. I believe her daughter, Allison, has just graduated or was about to graduate, from college. It looks like she swerved to miss a deer and lost control of her vehicle. She was driving alone and a passerby saw the wreck after it happened and called 911. Brenda is single, this was her only child and she lost her mother this past year. I just ask that you keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I can't even begin to imagine what it wouold be like to lose a child. Especially your only child. This has been a very tough year for her and she has so much more to go through. So thank you in advance.

As a side note, because of what happened to her daughter, DO NOT SWERVE to miss an animal. NEVER do that. Hit the animal. I know it is reflex or instinct to want to swerve and not hit them, but don't do it. Your car insurance will replace or repair the damage to your car. Your life insurance will NOT replace your life. Once you are dead, you are dead. That is the cold hard facts. If you are ever in that position where an animal runs out in front of you, take your foot off the gas pedal, apply the brakes GENTLY, aim for the opposite lane if it is clear and you are able to, but don't jerk the wheel. If you see that you are going to hit them, just hold steady, lock your elbows if you need to so that you don't swerve, and just continue to slow down at a steady rate. You don't want to slam on your brakes because you have to remember there may be traffic behind you. I have hit a deer before, I felt so bad, but I just plowed the poor thing over. There was only going to be one of us survive that encounter and I was going to make sure that it was me. Ok, end of my preaching. Just don't swerve!!