Collinsville,AL

Yesterday after I posted, we got unloaded and received our next work assignment. It was preloaded so there was no rush. I headed south on I-85 and stopped at a Blue Beacon to get all the lettuce washed out of the trailer and we grabbed a shower and some lunch at the TA. From there J took over driving and drove us into Atlanta,GA for our load. Picking up a load of candy from Mars (not the planet!) and were headed to Victorville,CA. We had time to get there as they set an appt time of 1000 on Monday so J stopped at the rest area on I-20 at the GA/AL state line. I get up around 0430 and we are off by 1700. This was going to be a nice leisurely trip.

Around 0800 I pull into the Pilot at x47 in Alabama. We needed to get fuel and this was our stop. I head in to go to the restroom and J heads to get the fuel receipt. When I come back he is on the phone with Prime. Apparently there is a solo driver at the same truck stop that we are at, and he needs us to pick up his load. He was 12 hours late getting loaded, had a blowout that he had to wait for repair on AND someone broke the seal to the trailer and stole 4-5 cases of meat. Not sure if he had a padlock on it or not. He still had about 1200 miles to go to destination in NY and there was no way he could make it as a solo. That is where we came in. We still can't make it on time, but we will be there a lot sooner than he will. I did make sure that dispatch hat let the receiver know that some of it was stolen because I didn't want the responsibility or the headache of them blaming me. He said that they had been notified and would just do a count when they received it to see exactly how much was taken. With all of that taken care of, we switch trailers and I head back the direction that I had just driven. The first three hours of my day looked just like the second three hours of my day. It was like deja vu except I was going the opposite direction.

Now we are headed to Kentwood,NY with this meat load that pays less than the load we just switched out with him. But, we are headed home after this trip, so it is further from NY to TX than it is from CA to TX so the run back should pay a little better. I think it will come out i the wash in the end. Just as long as we are back in Dallas on the 2nd by around lunch.

As a side note, the driver that we switched with had a male brindle pitt bull that was almost 9 years old and has driven one and a quarter million miles with him. He was so adorable but I'm sure he would have bitten my head off if the driver wasn't there. He didn't take too kindly to me when I initially knocked on the door to wake him up so that he would know we were there. But when the driver got up and got out and we started talking, he said he was friendly. I asked if I could pet him and he said yes. So I let him smell me first and then he was my instant friend. Tail just a wagging and play biting me. That may freak some people out, but not me. That is just how dogs are and how some show affection. If you watch dogs play, they do the same thing to each other, they play bite. So I don't mind, as long as it isn't too hard. And I don't believe the crap abut all pitt bulls being bad attack dogs. J and I had a 165 lb German Rottweiller that was the biggest baby with us. But he was very protective of me. I could tell him it was ok, and his demeanor would instantly change and he would become docile. I think pitt bulls are the same way. I have only been bitten twice and each time from two different dogs. Know what kind they were? Chihuahuas. Yep, so much for the big bad ass dogs being the mean ones. It is the little ones that you have to watch out for.