9/12/07

As I sat at the truck stop and whittled away the evening last night, two more CFI drivers pulled in across the way. We'll call them Driver 2 and Driver 3, as I was #1 on the board at the time. When I woke up this morning, Driver 3 was gone. I assumed that he had just been stopping to spend the night on the way to a drop. A few minutes later he pulled back into the parking lot and stopped by to chat. I guess he must have driven over to the fuel island to use the bathroom or something. I don't know. Anyway, he said he got a load assignment at midnight, picking up in Richmond and going to Ontario. He was unhappy about going to Canada, to which I replied, "Doesn't sound so bad to me." He asked if I would want to go to Canada. I said, "Beats sitting here."

I crawled back in the bunk for a little while, then got my load assignment. I, too, was going to Richmond to get a load. 35 miles away, no problem. After I used the restroom and walked back to my truck, I ran into Driver 2. Driver 3 was gone at that point. "How did that guy get going before us," he asked. Pretty good question. I hadn't thought about it. I guessed that maybe he had more hours available or something. "No, we both picked up and dropped off at the same place," Driver 2 continued. "He didn't have more hours." Very interesting. One has to wonder when things like that go on - just what are the planners doing? The planners would hand you some bullshit about how Driver 3 was highlighted for home or something like that if you tried to question them, but he wouldn't have been going to Canada if that were the case. As nearly as I can tell, he got in last, got a load first, and got more miles on his run than Driver 2 or myself. After a few more minutes of conversation, mainly concerning the fact that Driver 2's miles have been even worse than mine this month, I took off.

The customer in Richmond was prompt in getting me loaded, which is always nice. Then I started heading north. I'll be dropping off in Brownstown, Michigan Friday morning. Two days to go 600 miles is not so great, but at least I get a side benefit. I live ten miles from Brownstown. So I left the truck at the yard and headed home. The day off, while not really needed, will give me a chance to get a few things accomplished around town.

Now I'm stuck in a familiar Catch-22. I had planned to highlight for home on Friday. Instead I'll be at home on Friday. So, if I highlight, they'll say, "Okay go home." Then I burn an extra five days with no money coming in when I don't need to be home until Thursday. If I don't highlight, I run the risk of going too far away and not making it back by Thursday. I really haven't had a great month so far (around 4,700 miles) so I can't afford to give up the next few days of work. Since I'll be under local dispatch in Taylor, I'll have some say in which load I get. Hopefully I can pick one somewhere in the midwest so I still make it back. I guess we'll see.