6/26/07

There are good days and there are bad days, but I think most days are a combination of the two.

I arrived at my customer late last night and fell asleep somewhere around 2:30am. I set my alarm for 6:15 so I could check in before my 6:30 appointment. Of course I awoke to a knock on my door at 4:50am. Usual routine.

It only took a few minutes for the guys to pull two refrigeration units off of my trailer and send me on my way. I headed across the street to the local truck stop, notified my company that I was ready to run, and laid down to get some rest. I had time available on my log book, but as early as it was, I didn't anticipate going anywhere right away.

After waking up at 8am and responding to a few e-mails, I ate some breakfast and laid back down. I woke up again at noon to use the restroom, then laid back down. When I woke up again at 2pm, I was disappointed to see that I was still #1 on the board and still not assigned to a load.

Around 3pm, I got the beep from my satellite unit. I was told to deadhead from Maine to our drop yard in Bensalem, PA. The bad part is that half my day was wasted sitting around when there was no freight for me to haul. The company would rather pay me to drive 657 miles, burn the fuel, and pay the tolls, than to have me stay put. This tells me that they must have known there was not going to be anything coming my way in Maine, yet I sat there all day and waited.

On the good side, the 657 mile run fit within one day's 11 hours. 657 miles in one day is very good mileage, not to mention the bonus for running in the northeast. On top of that, leaving in the afternoon allowed me to hit the worst part of the run late at night. Going through that stretch of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York pretty much sucks balls during the day, but late at night it wasn't too bad. There was some construction in the Bronx, but I got through okay.

Now I'm here in Pennsylvania, ready to hit the sack and see what tomorrow will bring.