6/29/07

I am beginning to think that there is a grand conspiracy to make sure I never sleep long enough to hear my alarm go off in the morning. I was set to go at 3:30 this morning and, of course, the Conway guy woke me up at 2:45 to tell me my load was ready.

After I got the paperwork in order, I headed over to a local Cat scale to weigh the load. 16,000 lbs. on the drive axles and 35,000 on the trailer. What the hell? Have these people never loaded a trailer before? They apparently put all of the heavy boxes at the back of the trailer instead of trying to balance the weight. I checked the wheelbase laws and, since this load was going through Pennsylvania and Connecticut, the furthest back the trailer axles could go was 41' from the kingpin to the center of the assembly. As it turned out, this was just far enough to get the load legal.

Aside from the morning traffic around Dayton, the ride over was uneventful. After I got rid of the loaded trailer and hooked to the empty, I tried to lay down and get some rest. Yeah right. After an hour or two of tossing and turning, the communications system beeped. I took a look at my plan summary, then did a double-take. A pre-plan after my next run? Are you shitting me? I haven't seen a pre-plan since December. Maybe they read yesterday's blog entry and decided to actually 'plan' for a change. Either way, I'm pretty stoked.

I will have a long tough night of running tonight. I have to cover 400 miles in 8 hours. The 50mph pace isn't terribly hard, but it doesn't allow for more than a quick restroom break along the way. Then I get to deliver in Newark, NJ. Newark isn't my favorite place to be, but it's another Conway load so I get to drop and hook when I arrive. From there I'll head to Tunkhannock, PA to pick up a load bound for Missouri. This is especially cool since weekends can be a little dicey as far as getting a load. This one will provide 899 miles to keep me occupied.

The net result of this past week is that my pay period will end up around 6,100 miles. I've never been under 5,500 unless I took time off. The way this month was going, I thought for sure I would fall below 5,500 for this pay period, and I haven't taken any home time. I guess patience is a virtue.

Now it's time for a quick nap (hopefully) before the other driver gets here with my load.