Somewhere,TX

It has been a busy couple of days! Sorry I haven't posted but I have either been worn out or in an area that I couldn't get a consistent signal. But I am here now to update you because I know you have been on the edge of your seats wondering what the heck we have been up to. (Probably not, but this is my story....haha)

Ok, picked up the load in Jackson from the other driver and we are off. This was on Saturday morning. I get us back up to someplace in AL and J takes over from there. Our appointment was for 0900 on Sunday morning in Kirkwood,NY. J drives as far as he can and gets us to Toms Brook,VA I believe and that is where I take over. I have about 300 miles to go and five and a half hours to get there. Unfortunately there was that tropical depression off the coasts of the Carolina's and it had moved inland so it was nothing but rain and HEAVY fog the entire way. I was down to 30 mph in some places because I could only see about 2 of the lines on the highway in front of me. Couldn't see another truck even if he was one truck length ahead. It was some of the worst fog, if not the worst, that I have ever driven through. I made it to the receiver at 1130 and they got us unloaded immediately.

While I was enrt to that location, we got a call from dispatch telling us we had a preplan set up picking up in Baldwinsville,NY going to Johnson City,TN for 0800 the next morning. It was a shitty paying load, and heavy, but being a Sunday I knew that the pickins would be slim, so we took it. I managed to make it up there before I was out of hours for the day and J took over from there and headed back south on I-81. Being worn out from driving through the heavy fog and rain, I hit the sack only to be woken up about an hour later from J slamming on the brakes. I about flew into the front of the cab, but thankfully I ALWAYS hook the safety net when I am in the bunk sleeping. Apparently two cars were hotrodding and racing each other and one cut right in front of J to cut across 3 lanes of traffic to get to an exit. J ended up coming to a complete stop on the shoulder. It is safe to say that is just about nearly scared the shit out of him. After checking his pants and determining that everything was ok and there was no need to change underwear, we were off again. It did take some time to get back to sleep though!

J makes it back down through most of VA and I am left with 200 miles to go when I get up. Of course there is more rain and fog and I make it to the receiver only about 20 minutes late. Of course I called and let them know and it wasn't a big deal because they didn't have an open dock when I got there anyway. I only had to wait about 15 minutes though before they got me a dock and I sat back and waited to get unloaded. While I was waiting I called our FM and told him we were going to go get a shower before our next load but he said freight was slim and that he would keep us available because we may not get a load if we pushed our time out. Whatever, I said, just as long as he knew we WERE getting a shower today!

I get unloaded and the minute I pull out we get our next load. It is 1000 and I have 3 hours to make 154 miles AND stop to get fuel. I call back in and tell him I will wait on the shower till after we pick up but I must stop for fuel. Especially since it was a high value load we were picking up and we couldn't stop for 200 miles once we picked up. He said that was fine. Off we go to get fuel, grab fast food while we are fueling, and we are off. I make it to the shipper about 15 minutes after appointment time, but again, I wasn't worried because he was supposed to let them know. This is now Monday afternoon and we were excited because we could drop this on Tuesday before payroll cutoff meaning we would have a really good week. Well, it is a secure facility that I pull up to and when I pull up to the intercom a nice lady asks me what my pickup number is. I give her that info, she asks what carrier I am and then tells me to hold on. A few minutes later she comes back on and tells me that I need to call my dispatcher. Knowing that isn't a good sign, I ask what is up. It turns out that when they booked this load, they put the wrong date in and it was not supposed to load until Tuesday afternoon, not Monday afternoon. Well hell! Ok, back the truck up (thank goodness no other trucks were behing me) and park at the end of the street and call in to see what the deal is. I call in and our FM says that he is working on it since he already got a call from them. Then, being the brilliant mind that I am, I offer a suggestion. Why don't we just spend the night and pick the load up the next day. We know it will get us close to home for our time off, seeing as how another team is going to pick up up from us and take it to final destination, and I wasn't in the mood to drive another 200 miles empty chasing down a load. He said that works for him as long as we don't mind. We realized that it worked for us because even though it won't go on this weeks check, it will go on the next one, and our profit from this will cover our truck payment for the week we are off. So in the long run, it actually worked out better.

I have to say that I absolutely love our GPS. While we were sitting there, I punched up nearby attractions, chose motels and then chose nearest to our location. I found a hotel 13 miles down, right on the interstate, that had truck parking in back and allowed dogs all for $47 plus tax. Off we go to the hotel, check in and get unpacked and settled in. Got a nice big king size bed and the room has a table with chairs a fridge and a mcirowave. Unfortunately it didn't have a coffee maker, but there was a stop & rob next door that would do for my morning coffee. A little later we call in and tell our FM we are unhooking the trailer and putting the kingpin lock on it and heading to get something to eat. I looked in the yellow pages under restaurants and found a place 10 miles away right up I-75 that boasted of home cooking. You know when you are on the road if you can find anything close to home cooked, then you have to try it. OMG this place was awesome. I swear they had the best sweet tea that we have had while out on the road. It is called the Dinner Bell and is in Lenoire City,TN on I-75 at exit 81 and it is on the east side of the highway about a block down, right past the first light. If you go in the evening after around 1930 you could probably get a truck and trailer in there. But if anyone is parked right at the entrance it would be a tight fit. But there are places close by that you could park the truck at and walk over to it. One of the places is a Days Inn that says it has truck parking. Anyway, you must stop in there if you get a chance. We even went back the next morning for breakfast!

After that we headed to the shipper and promptly got loaded and we were off. I can't tell you where I am at, but we are somewhere in TX waiting on the other truck to get to our location to take this load off of our hands. Our FM said that he is dealing with a claim on the load he has so we may be here for a while. But at least we know they have someone lined up to come get this. I am glad because I am ready to start my VACATION!!!!