8/25/08

Up with the (lack of) sun, I headed down the street a few miles to my consignee. They had to call an impromptu rent-a-cop conference to discuss the seal on my trailer. It had been inspected by the Border Patrol, so the new seal didn't match the pre-printed number on the paperwork. I had noted this on the bills, but they didn't seem too satisfied. Long story short... twenty minutes later they noted the same thing on the bills and sent me to a door.

I took the load to Tennessee in hopes that there would be freight available in short order. The load that I could have taken to Missouri had a few more miles, but we tend to have an abundance of drivers in Missouri. Tennessee seemed like the best bet. See here, I'm not always a dummy. I was assigned to my next load before I left my consignee this morning. It was a quick lengthy 65 mile drive over to Clarksville (through Nashville in the morning), picking up a load headed back to Laredo. NAFTA seems to play a pretty big role in keeping my bills paid. I can tell you that much.

I was at the shipper for quite a while, as the order that I was picking up appears to have fallen through the cracks. Most loads were already pulled and staged. Mine was not. Once they found the information, the forklift guys had to work on filling the order and load my trailer as they went along. No biggie. After a few hours I was on my way.

The day was looking up as I started to head westward. I drove out of the rain at some point and the traffic was moving freely. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Another monsoon brought a pretty slow trip through Memphis. I made it around a hundred miles into Arkansas and then pulled over to call it a night.

On some instances people are asked to name something that they fear. I have always maintained that I don't fear anything. I have nothing to lose so why would I have anything to fear, right? Tonight I was reminded that this is not entirely true. I fear kidney stones. Roughly eight years ago, I had a couple of run-ins with the damn things. I can honestly say that the pain caused by the back pressure on my kidney was worse than anything else I've ever experienced. From that point forward, I've been a water drinking fool. The doctors at the time said that I would likely face recurrences throughout my life and I am 100% committed to proving them wrong. I guess I won't know for sure until morning, but I sincerely hope that the pain in my side right now isn't the beginning of another one. It's not too bad at this point but it's hard to say. Hopefully I just have an irritated bladder or something. I am quite afraid of kidney stones.

Anyhow, the FMCSA says that I can kick out nine hours of driving tomorrow so I guess that's what I'll do. I'm going to try and find a way to get through the last few hundred miles of Satan's Driveway late at night. I think that my dispatch should allow me to do so.