Well, a strange Sunday would be a fitting conclusion to a strange weekend. My battery rundown thing beeped at me after the truck had only been off for a few hours this morning, so I guess we'll have to get it to a shop sooner or later. Thankfully the truck had enough juice to start this time but it did hesitate. I was in the mood to sleep a little longer. Of course I couldn't get back to sleep. Story of life.
I got another headscratcher of an assignment around an hour later. Bobtail to Jacksonville and pick up an empty. Whatever dude. I just do what I'm told and I get paid by the mile. I have no idea how this weekend's sequence of events came to pass and I really don't care. I went from sitting empty in Virginia to getting rid of my empty trailer in North Carolina to picking up an empty in Florida. Hmm, how about that.
The drive down to Jacksonville was a rather straightforward affair. The bumpy spots really toss the truck around when there's no trailer, but otherwise the traffic was reasonable and things went according to plan. I even saw the sun after a while. That was a nice change.
I pulled into the driveway of the customer from which I was supposed to take an empty. There was another CTL bobtail parked in the driveway, facing a locked gate. The guy in the other truck said that he had called Joplin and they told him that the place might not open until midnight. I was dispatched to arrive at 5:45pm. Yeah, go figure. Time to catch up on some of that sleep that eluded me this morning.
When I woke a couple of hours later, there were two more bobtails and one truck with a loaded trailer behind me. The first bobtail and the locked gate were still in front of me. Guess we're waiting for midnight then. I followed the advice of yesterday's two esteemed commenters this time and sent a message apprising the office people of my situation. I'm sure that none of us will be surprised to learn that I got no response.
Midnight has now come and gone. The status quo has been maintained. I'm going to bed. Somebody will have to show up sooner or later. When they do, they'll most likely want me out of their driveway. I'll anticipate a knock on the side of my cab, well before I'm ready to get up and start my day. Story of life.
Well, the bobtailing might have helped your fuel mileage a bit. Gotta love trucking.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it probably helped quite a bit. I'm afraid to leave the truck off while I sleep though. Maybe it will all balance out until I get a chance to stop at a shop and deal with those batteries.
ReplyDeletePretty good mileage for being empty. The ole hurry up and wait. Gotta love it.
ReplyDeleteIt was something along the lines of 650 miles from the time I got empty in Virginia to the time I got loaded today.
ReplyDeleteOne would think that there's a more efficient way of doing things, but I'm just a big dumb peon. All I really know is how to drive my truck and not hit anything. That's how I like it.