7/1/08

Don't look now, but the planner people are working on a two-game hitting streak. I'm guessing that the upcoming holiday will change all that, but so far so good.

I tossed and turned all night, even worse than normal, so of course the morning wasn't exactly 'happy time.' That being said; My load was ready on time, it scaled out perfectly on the first try, the ConWay yard wasn't busy at all, traffic was light all the way across Wisconsin and Minnesota, I got a pre-plan after a few hours of driving, my fuel stop wasn't crowded at all, the ConWay yard in West Fargo was likewise not busy, I got a clean and mechanically sound empty, the next shipper was only ten miles away, they had me loaded within fifteen minutes of my arrival, and traffic heading back out of Fargo was light. How's that for a run-on sentence?

I am heading to Urbana, Illinois for a 4am Thursday delivery. It's one of those pain in the ass places where we can't park the night before, we can't arrive early, and there's no truck stop nearby. I hadn't really decided how to attack the trip when I guess my mind was made up for me. I got about a hundred miles back into Minnesota before the highway was Sugar Ray and I was Roberto Duran - "No mas." I had the hours to go a little further today, but I was dead tired so I pulled into a rest area and immediately fell asleep... for two hours. Now I'm wide awake and my 14 hour clock has expired, so I guess there ain't much I can do except try to get a little more sleep. From here I can drive about 600 miles tomorrow and get to a truck stop along I-74, about 35 miles from my consignee. As we reverse-engineer the math, we find that I would have to be ready to start work by 3am locally Thursday, which is really 4am for me in east coast time, so I would have to start my break by 6pm Eastern, so I would have to leave here by 7am Eastern (assuming that the drive will take eleven hours). It will likely be less than eleven hours, but it's usually best to allow for a snafu or two along the way whenever Illinois is involved. I guess I'll set my alarm for 6am and we'll take it from there.

The week's miles are starting to shape up to be pretty decent. With this dispatch I am at 1,849 and I'll be empty on Thursday morning. I guess that's the one positive thing about a 4am delivery. Even if the planners don't continue their 100% pre-plan rate of this recent excursion, I'll be on the board before they start handing out freight on Thursday. My memory seems to suggest that the 4th of July is never a very productive time to be looking for freight, so hopefully I can catch something nice and long (or, if not, at least something going to Taylor) for the weekend. I don't expect as much, but a fella can hope. Obama told me so.

Hey, maybe you guys can help me out with something that's been on my mind all day. So, the story goes that this guy named Dimitri left some voice mails for this chick named Olga. She then appears to have put the voice mails on the internet. I heard some guys on the radio making fun of Dimitri this morning, so now I'm a little confused. I think he is playing his cards like a champ, what with the stalker-like mentality and the way that he tells her that she must have been abused or something. If you can manage to hang on to the end (where he really hits his stride), let me know. Should this not be someone that I try to emulate? Maybe that's why I don't get more affection on the road...