2/15/09

Well, it ain't El Paso but 40 degrees and sunny in Missouri today was an improvement over recent history. The drive itself was a fairly easy affair. The weekend traffic was nice and light and I had plenty of time for a couple of breaks along the way.

Once I got close to Saint Louis, I had a decision to make. I could park somewhere along I-70 tonight and then head into town in the morning. That would probably be the safe and conventional approach. You have probably concluded then (correctly) that I used the other approach. I headed right into town and figured that I would come up with something for parking once I got to the consignee.

I missed a turn after leaving the freeway. No big surprise there, since my directions were based on a dispatcher's look at Google Maps. They were mostly accurate, but not exactly. Apparently there were no directions to the consignee in my company's customer profile. I pulled over and turned on my computer to see what had happened. It turned out that I was pretty close to the main Budweiser brewery entrance. I've been there before and seemed to remember a good deal of open space on the neighboring streets. I was able to drive down their street and find a wide enough spot to spin around and head back in the right direction. I found a locked gate at the consignee. Damn. There's some sort of gravel or dirt (or something) area near the train tracks across the street. That'll do. Shortly after I parked here, I saw a security truck pull up on the other side of the fence on my right. I was expecting to get harassed but he didn't get out of the truck. From observing for a few minutes here, it appears that the security truck moves to a different spot and parks to keep an eye on things whenever the trains move.

Since it looks like I'm not bothering anyone, I have to conclude that it was a good move to get here tonight. Missing a turn and getting lost amid the morning traffic is an experience that I know quite well. Not too fun.

We have quite a few customers in this area so that should be good news when it comes time to wait for a load tomorrow. We also tend to have a lot of trucks in Missouri though. We shall see...