I can't say that I've ever been a fan of a particular golfer. I enjoy playing the game and I enjoy watching the major championships, but that's about it. Certainly none of the golfers are followed in the same regard as my Tigers, Irish, Redskins, and Wings. All that being said, I had plenty of time to watch the Open Championship today. I'll be a huge Tom Watson fan tomorrow. That would be a hell of a story if he can hang onto his lead for one more round.
So yeah, I sat around and watched golf and baseball all afternoon. No driving for me. Hey, we do have a new milestone to report though. Worst... pay period... evah! That's pretty sweet, or something. 1,119 miles plus a few bucks in northeast pay, so somewhere around $430. Yep. I didn't even do that badly when I was a trainee. Good call putting that vacation pay on this check, eh?
I got a 63 mile dispatch from Manassas to somewhere in Maryland today to wrap up the week. It picks up tomorrow evening though and, after assessing the situation, I decided that I have it pretty good where I am at the moment. I can stay here and get a restart for my log book, then drive over to Maryland tomorrow. I happen to be parked behind a laundromat and I also happened to have a bunch of dirty clothes. That was pretty convenient. There are a couple of bars, a Mexican restaurant, a pizzeria, a 7-11, and a K Mart within walking distance. I had fast enough internet access to watch Watson's last nine holes and then watch the Tigers get beat on a cheap Yankee Stadium blooper homerun. I didn't have to set an alarm for this morning and there are no loud trucks around, so my Swedish buddy Sjoe was spared the headache that he probably deserved after last night. If it weren't for the fact that I don't seem to speak the local language here (español), today almost would have seemed like a day at home.
Tomorrow night's run is some sort of just-in-time overnight logistics crap with two drops in North Carolina. My pickup time is 6pm but my directions say that I have to arrive an hour early. They also say that nobody will be at the shipper, so I have to call some phone number to tell them to meet me. Then I'm supposed to be sent on my way by 7pm or something. I have read through it three times and it still doesn't really make a lot of sense. We'll just see what happens. I do know that I'll be over 300 miles plus some northeast pay and stop pay by Monday morning - almost 1/3 of the way to matching this week's pitiful performance.
I just realized something. I do believe that I've been asked by my employer to assume an 'up all night/sleep all day' schedule, haven't I? Guess I had better go for a walk and see what that mischievous Swede is up to tonight...
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
7/17/09
If you had to draw up a blueprint for how to completely screw a truck driver's day, you would do well to observe the following.
Up at the crack of dawn, I was able to get to my consignee in Richmond before the traffic got too heavy. That's always a plus. There was a sign on the road indicating that the warehouse held two street addresses - 4870 and 4830. I needed to go to 4870 so I took the first entrance. Around the back of the building, I found a door labeled 'receiving' and parked in front of it. My dispatch was for 7am but I had left a little early to make sure I wouldn't arrive late. I got there at 6:15am so I thought that I would have to kill 45 minutes. The sign on the door said that they opened at 7:30am. Okay, whatever. I sent a note to Joplin advising them of the discrepancy and then kicked back for a while.
At 7:30am, as I was getting out to try the receiving door, a lady walked out of the building and toward my truck. She said that she had been waiting for me on the other side of the building (4830). I showed her the paperwork (with the 4870 address) and apologized for keeping her waiting. She was pleasant enough and directed me on which dock to take once I drove around to the other side. After I was empty, I went back to where I had originally been sitting and parked to await my next assignment. I was #1 on the board and the weekend assignments are usually lined up early, so I was expecting to move somewhat quickly.
After an hour I had no work so I decided to take a nap. Three hours of sleep this morning did me far more good than the four hours last night. That's for sure. I got my assignment around 12:30pm. Deadhead 101 miles to Annandale, Virginia and pick up a relay going 24 miles to Manassas. Eh? That right there is what we in the business call a real shit sandwich. I got to head into the DC suburbs during the Friday afternoon rush and then deliver to another busy city, all for a whopping 125 miles. Obviously, it seemed to me, someone had broken down and I was going to have to take one for the team.
It took a little over three hours to reach the K Mart in Annandale, meaning that I was a little over an hour late for the relay. Yeah, 101 miles in 3+ hours. Like I said, shit sandwich. It turned out that the other driver wasn't broken down. He had made the trip from Greensboro, North Carolina to Annandale this morning and then waited a long time to be unloaded. By the time the workers were finished, he had run out of hours. 24 miles to go. I was lucky enough to be the closest driver. Yeah, like I said, shit sandwich.
I swapped trailers with him and then headed for Manassas. Along the way I called Joplin and asked the payroll lady to throw a week of vacation pay on next Friday's check, since it didn't look like I would be making any money this weekend. Then I had to call my fleet manager and let her know that the 30 minute dispatch for the 24 miles was the stuff of pure fantasy. She said that she wasn't worried about the time, but that the consignee's receiving hours ended at 4pm. Our customer service people hadn't been able to reach anyone, so we weren't entirely sure if they would take the load tonight or if we would have to find a place to dump it for the weekend. Sweet. After an hour, I managed to cover the 24 miles and arrive at the final stop.
The guy tried busting my balls a little and I tried sweet-talking him a little. I suspect that he was going to take the load anyway but we'll just go ahead and pretend that my apologies did some good in the matter. The consignees on this account are allowed two hours to unload their freight. Right at two hours, the same guy brought me my paperwork with the in and out times written at the bottom. He said that they needed five minutes to wrap up. They worked for another half hour. In light of the situation, I didn't see a need to be a dick about it. Take your free half hour dude. My day is blown anyway.
By the time I was empty, my 14 hour clock was expired. I sent in my empty call indicating that I had an hour, just to see if an assignment might come up. One didn't. I was #1 on the board though. After a little while, having seen nothing come across the satellite, I decided to send in my 'on break' form and call it a night. Apparently the powers that be are going to be checking our log books against GPS data starting within a couple of weeks. No need to try sneaking an assignment tonight and get myself in trouble, right?
So there we go. 125 miles. 5:15am start. 7:15pm finish. Oh yeah, I did get $6.25 in northeast pay. Can't forget about those big bucks. That, my friends, is how you completely screw a truck driver's day. I'm at 1,056 miles for the week so far. Maybe I can get a decent dispatch tomorrow or something before the pay period ends. We'll see.
Spending the night behind a shopping center isn't exactly a typical Friday occurrence in this line of work. As long as no cops bug me for parking here, I don't think it will be all that bad. A little change of pace from the truck stop life I guess. My Swedish buddy Sjoe seems to think he's found a local place to obtain some refreshment. I'll have to take his word for it. The Tigers are playing New York so maybe they'll be on ESPN or something.
Up at the crack of dawn, I was able to get to my consignee in Richmond before the traffic got too heavy. That's always a plus. There was a sign on the road indicating that the warehouse held two street addresses - 4870 and 4830. I needed to go to 4870 so I took the first entrance. Around the back of the building, I found a door labeled 'receiving' and parked in front of it. My dispatch was for 7am but I had left a little early to make sure I wouldn't arrive late. I got there at 6:15am so I thought that I would have to kill 45 minutes. The sign on the door said that they opened at 7:30am. Okay, whatever. I sent a note to Joplin advising them of the discrepancy and then kicked back for a while.
At 7:30am, as I was getting out to try the receiving door, a lady walked out of the building and toward my truck. She said that she had been waiting for me on the other side of the building (4830). I showed her the paperwork (with the 4870 address) and apologized for keeping her waiting. She was pleasant enough and directed me on which dock to take once I drove around to the other side. After I was empty, I went back to where I had originally been sitting and parked to await my next assignment. I was #1 on the board and the weekend assignments are usually lined up early, so I was expecting to move somewhat quickly.
After an hour I had no work so I decided to take a nap. Three hours of sleep this morning did me far more good than the four hours last night. That's for sure. I got my assignment around 12:30pm. Deadhead 101 miles to Annandale, Virginia and pick up a relay going 24 miles to Manassas. Eh? That right there is what we in the business call a real shit sandwich. I got to head into the DC suburbs during the Friday afternoon rush and then deliver to another busy city, all for a whopping 125 miles. Obviously, it seemed to me, someone had broken down and I was going to have to take one for the team.
It took a little over three hours to reach the K Mart in Annandale, meaning that I was a little over an hour late for the relay. Yeah, 101 miles in 3+ hours. Like I said, shit sandwich. It turned out that the other driver wasn't broken down. He had made the trip from Greensboro, North Carolina to Annandale this morning and then waited a long time to be unloaded. By the time the workers were finished, he had run out of hours. 24 miles to go. I was lucky enough to be the closest driver. Yeah, like I said, shit sandwich.
I swapped trailers with him and then headed for Manassas. Along the way I called Joplin and asked the payroll lady to throw a week of vacation pay on next Friday's check, since it didn't look like I would be making any money this weekend. Then I had to call my fleet manager and let her know that the 30 minute dispatch for the 24 miles was the stuff of pure fantasy. She said that she wasn't worried about the time, but that the consignee's receiving hours ended at 4pm. Our customer service people hadn't been able to reach anyone, so we weren't entirely sure if they would take the load tonight or if we would have to find a place to dump it for the weekend. Sweet. After an hour, I managed to cover the 24 miles and arrive at the final stop.
The guy tried busting my balls a little and I tried sweet-talking him a little. I suspect that he was going to take the load anyway but we'll just go ahead and pretend that my apologies did some good in the matter. The consignees on this account are allowed two hours to unload their freight. Right at two hours, the same guy brought me my paperwork with the in and out times written at the bottom. He said that they needed five minutes to wrap up. They worked for another half hour. In light of the situation, I didn't see a need to be a dick about it. Take your free half hour dude. My day is blown anyway.
By the time I was empty, my 14 hour clock was expired. I sent in my empty call indicating that I had an hour, just to see if an assignment might come up. One didn't. I was #1 on the board though. After a little while, having seen nothing come across the satellite, I decided to send in my 'on break' form and call it a night. Apparently the powers that be are going to be checking our log books against GPS data starting within a couple of weeks. No need to try sneaking an assignment tonight and get myself in trouble, right?
So there we go. 125 miles. 5:15am start. 7:15pm finish. Oh yeah, I did get $6.25 in northeast pay. Can't forget about those big bucks. That, my friends, is how you completely screw a truck driver's day. I'm at 1,056 miles for the week so far. Maybe I can get a decent dispatch tomorrow or something before the pay period ends. We'll see.
Spending the night behind a shopping center isn't exactly a typical Friday occurrence in this line of work. As long as no cops bug me for parking here, I don't think it will be all that bad. A little change of pace from the truck stop life I guess. My Swedish buddy Sjoe seems to think he's found a local place to obtain some refreshment. I'll have to take his word for it. The Tigers are playing New York so maybe they'll be on ESPN or something.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
7/16/09
I think we've got a full-blown conspiracy on our hands in Michigan this week. It would seem to the casual observer that a tanker truck exploded yesterday on I-75 north of Detroit. Mmm hmm, I'm not fooled. Fourth paragraph down... "The intense heat of the explosion forced the overpass to collapse onto the freeway below as hundreds of people watched, stunned by what was happening." Yeah, exactly. If we've learned anything over the last decade, it's that fire can't melt steel... or something. The Zionists clearly hired Halliburton to take that bridge down. And the driver of the car that allegedly caused the accident was named Saied Haidarian-Shahri, eh? Convenient. Just a little too convenient, don't you think?
Any question about whether the planners at CTL could make use of my limited hours today was answered fairly early this morning. I got a short run that worked almost perfectly with the hours that I had available to me. First I had to deadhead down to Asheboro. That part was odd in that I got paid 38 miles for the deadhead. The trip was 36 miles, so nothing special there, but I had gone 26 miles out of the way yesterday to reach the T/A in Whitsett. I had to double back past High Point and then drop down to Asheboro on US-220. Later in the day I checked truckmiles.com and found that they list the 'truck practical' mileage from High Point to Asheboro as 23.2 miles. From Whitsett to Asheboro, it says 39.5. Obviously I have no complaint about getting paid for the actual miles that I drove today. I've just never seen that before. Usually my dispatch would only pay me from wherever I last delivered. Any out of route miles would be covered free of charge. Weird.
Once I was loaded, I headed back up to Greensboro and then continued on I-85 into Virginia. My hours held up until I reached the truck stop in Warfield and parked for the night. I'll have to cover another 60 miles or so in order to reach my consignee in Richmond by 7am, so it looks like at least one more early morning is in store for me. Then the weekend will hopefully give me a chance to get back to sleeping when I feel like it and driving when I feel like it.
I really have no desire to work another marathon weekend like I did last week, but this week's paycheck is going to be pretty lousy without some heavy work. This trip to Virginia gets my miles to 931. Given the depleted state of my log book following last week's big mileage, anything over 2,000 miles this week would be reasonable. If I haven't seen some indication that I'll get there by tomorrow afternoon, I suppose I'll go ahead and grab a week of vacation pay to boost my earnings. Either that or I'll start work on my new straight-to-DVD documentary - 7/15 Was an Inside Job. Probably I should stick with the truck driving.
Any question about whether the planners at CTL could make use of my limited hours today was answered fairly early this morning. I got a short run that worked almost perfectly with the hours that I had available to me. First I had to deadhead down to Asheboro. That part was odd in that I got paid 38 miles for the deadhead. The trip was 36 miles, so nothing special there, but I had gone 26 miles out of the way yesterday to reach the T/A in Whitsett. I had to double back past High Point and then drop down to Asheboro on US-220. Later in the day I checked truckmiles.com and found that they list the 'truck practical' mileage from High Point to Asheboro as 23.2 miles. From Whitsett to Asheboro, it says 39.5. Obviously I have no complaint about getting paid for the actual miles that I drove today. I've just never seen that before. Usually my dispatch would only pay me from wherever I last delivered. Any out of route miles would be covered free of charge. Weird.
Once I was loaded, I headed back up to Greensboro and then continued on I-85 into Virginia. My hours held up until I reached the truck stop in Warfield and parked for the night. I'll have to cover another 60 miles or so in order to reach my consignee in Richmond by 7am, so it looks like at least one more early morning is in store for me. Then the weekend will hopefully give me a chance to get back to sleeping when I feel like it and driving when I feel like it.
I really have no desire to work another marathon weekend like I did last week, but this week's paycheck is going to be pretty lousy without some heavy work. This trip to Virginia gets my miles to 931. Given the depleted state of my log book following last week's big mileage, anything over 2,000 miles this week would be reasonable. If I haven't seen some indication that I'll get there by tomorrow afternoon, I suppose I'll go ahead and grab a week of vacation pay to boost my earnings. Either that or I'll start work on my new straight-to-DVD documentary - 7/15 Was an Inside Job. Probably I should stick with the truck driving.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
7/15/09
Yeah, I'm gonna say it. I had to sleep last night but I saw the thing on YouTube this morning. They can just send Holder after me if that's what they have to do. I ain't skeered. The president throws like a little sissy girl. There, I said it. That feels better.
About the only positive about hitting the road at 1:15am was the fact that I got past Atlanta before 5am. I think I have been caught in a traffic jam every time I've passed that town during the usual commute this year, so it was nice to be able to cruise on through. The drive in general was a long and tedious affair though. 45,000 pounds in the wagon and one hill after another along the whole route.
I got to my consignee in High Point and parked out in front. My directions said that I should park in the street and then walk into the customer's lot to get a good look at the backing job that would lie ahead. Yeah, they weren't kidding. That place was a doozy. I had to pull through a gravel lot across the street (1), swing around into the customer's driveway (2), make a sharp turn to get pointed back in the direction from which I came (3), back in through their gate (4), turn my trailer around a corner and down a hill (5), and then straighten up into the dock (6).
I was feeling pretty fatigued at the time and the forklift guy said that my predecessor took a half hour getting backed in, so I was braced for a struggle. Surprisingly, I slung 'er in there in one motion. Like a real truck driver and stuff. Beauty. They had me unloaded quickly and then I had to make a decision. I could drive roughly a half hour in either direction to find a truck stop or I could park in the lot of one of the many unoccupied warehouses in the area of the consignee. I was #2 on the board at the time and my hours were running low. I suspected that this would mean I would be parked for a while, so a truck stop sounded like the best option. East or west then? I headed eastward to the T/A outside Greensboro, since we pick up a lot of freight from the Durham area. My next load will now come from somewhere west of here, of course, but what are you gonna do?
The corollary to the 70 hour rule having forced me to start at 1:15am was that the 14 hour rule would prevent me from working past 3:15pm. The 14 hour end of the deal turned out to be a non-issue though, as 3:15pm has long since passed and I never moved from #2 on the board. I have an hour and a half available to me, with another 2.75 hours coming available after midnight. Maybe the planner dudes will be able to make use of those hours tomorrow and maybe they won't. I don't know. Then I start picking up more than eleven hours a day through the weekend, so this week's pay could still manage to be decent. We'll see.
About the only positive about hitting the road at 1:15am was the fact that I got past Atlanta before 5am. I think I have been caught in a traffic jam every time I've passed that town during the usual commute this year, so it was nice to be able to cruise on through. The drive in general was a long and tedious affair though. 45,000 pounds in the wagon and one hill after another along the whole route.
I got to my consignee in High Point and parked out in front. My directions said that I should park in the street and then walk into the customer's lot to get a good look at the backing job that would lie ahead. Yeah, they weren't kidding. That place was a doozy. I had to pull through a gravel lot across the street (1), swing around into the customer's driveway (2), make a sharp turn to get pointed back in the direction from which I came (3), back in through their gate (4), turn my trailer around a corner and down a hill (5), and then straighten up into the dock (6).
I was feeling pretty fatigued at the time and the forklift guy said that my predecessor took a half hour getting backed in, so I was braced for a struggle. Surprisingly, I slung 'er in there in one motion. Like a real truck driver and stuff. Beauty. They had me unloaded quickly and then I had to make a decision. I could drive roughly a half hour in either direction to find a truck stop or I could park in the lot of one of the many unoccupied warehouses in the area of the consignee. I was #2 on the board at the time and my hours were running low. I suspected that this would mean I would be parked for a while, so a truck stop sounded like the best option. East or west then? I headed eastward to the T/A outside Greensboro, since we pick up a lot of freight from the Durham area. My next load will now come from somewhere west of here, of course, but what are you gonna do?The corollary to the 70 hour rule having forced me to start at 1:15am was that the 14 hour rule would prevent me from working past 3:15pm. The 14 hour end of the deal turned out to be a non-issue though, as 3:15pm has long since passed and I never moved from #2 on the board. I have an hour and a half available to me, with another 2.75 hours coming available after midnight. Maybe the planner dudes will be able to make use of those hours tomorrow and maybe they won't. I don't know. Then I start picking up more than eleven hours a day through the weekend, so this week's pay could still manage to be decent. We'll see.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
7/14/09
The beautiful 70 hour rule... Here's the Cliff's Notes version of my latest beef - Having made my drop/hook and gotten on the board at #1, I received an assignment early in the day. Based on the 70 hour rule, I had 2.75 hours available to me. I drove 90 miles to the south to make my pickup, burning 1.5 hours in the process. 1.25 hours left. The (surprisingly attractive) forklift driver chick worked very quickly and sent me on my way. Once loaded, I was able to drive an hour back to the north. Then I had to make my post-trip inspection and that was that. No more hours. End of discussion. It would make far more sense for me to drive until this evening and then go to bed. I could wake at a decent hour and finish out my trip, making tomorrow afternoon's delivery and getting plenty of rest in the process. Instead, I had to park for the day long before I was tired. Now I get to start at 1:15am tomorrow in order to keep my schedule. Maybe I can get to sleep for a while this evening or maybe I can't. Stupid.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - 70 hours is way more work than I care to do in a week. I have no beef with limitations on the number of hours that people can be on the road. A lot of these guys would drive way too much if they could get away with it. Personally, I'm not so sure that I should go much more than 8 or 9 hours in a given day. Save the pseudo-scientific hippie bullshit for someone else though. That 70 hours in 8 days bit was pulled out of someone's ass to make the "safety" lobbyists feel better. There's nothing behind it. There's no rational basis for the idea that I'll be less tired after midnight than I am at 3pm, when I slept last night and drove this morning.
Of course, the whole conversation would shift if I worked for one of those companies that don't have any freight to haul. That would certainly be worse. I had a handful of hours left and my company found me a load to use those hours. I guess I might as well just buck up and be glad that I can earn a living... for now. I didn't really want to watch baseball tonight anyway. I hate baseball. Yeah, that's the ticket. Baseball sucks. I would rather toss and turn and try to sleep so I can work overnight and all morning tomorrow. Okay, that's enough bitching for a month or two.
My latest assignment had me picking up a wicked heavy load of wood in Epes, Alabama and heading toward High Point, North Carolina. Notwithstanding that the (perfectly legal) schedule and the 70 hour rule will most likely leave me exhausted tomorrow, my week will be off to a decent start. I'll only pick up a few hours on Thursday, so the week's pay will likely rest on whatever I get for the weekend.
Goodnight...
I've said it before and I'll say it again - 70 hours is way more work than I care to do in a week. I have no beef with limitations on the number of hours that people can be on the road. A lot of these guys would drive way too much if they could get away with it. Personally, I'm not so sure that I should go much more than 8 or 9 hours in a given day. Save the pseudo-scientific hippie bullshit for someone else though. That 70 hours in 8 days bit was pulled out of someone's ass to make the "safety" lobbyists feel better. There's nothing behind it. There's no rational basis for the idea that I'll be less tired after midnight than I am at 3pm, when I slept last night and drove this morning.
Of course, the whole conversation would shift if I worked for one of those companies that don't have any freight to haul. That would certainly be worse. I had a handful of hours left and my company found me a load to use those hours. I guess I might as well just buck up and be glad that I can earn a living... for now. I didn't really want to watch baseball tonight anyway. I hate baseball. Yeah, that's the ticket. Baseball sucks. I would rather toss and turn and try to sleep so I can work overnight and all morning tomorrow. Okay, that's enough bitching for a month or two.
My latest assignment had me picking up a wicked heavy load of wood in Epes, Alabama and heading toward High Point, North Carolina. Notwithstanding that the (perfectly legal) schedule and the 70 hour rule will most likely leave me exhausted tomorrow, my week will be off to a decent start. I'll only pick up a few hours on Thursday, so the week's pay will likely rest on whatever I get for the weekend.
Goodnight...
Monday, July 13, 2009
7/13/09
I had enough hours to make it most of the way through Mississippi this morning. For reasons of my own, I won't have anything further to say on that topic today.
My Swedish buddy Sjoe said something about how much he likes Carlos Peña paying +750 in the home run derby tonight. Yeah, I don't know what that means either... or something.
My Swedish buddy Sjoe said something about how much he likes Carlos Peña paying +750 in the home run derby tonight. Yeah, I don't know what that means either... or something.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
7/12/09
Man, I don't think Alabama was supposed to be this far from California. Or it might just be that I've had too many long days in a row and I'm sick of the highway. I'm actually looking forward to my hours running out so I can relax for a day or so.
Just a whole lot of I-40 to report this time around. I resisted the temptation to angle down out of Amarillo and stayed on the interstate instead, on account of my hours being in short supply. I'm pretty sure that I would have had a quick ride down to Wichita Falls but US-82 appeared to have a whole lot of towns along the way from Texas to Alabama. I need to cover as many miles as possible for each hour on the road during this trip. So yeah, I-40 all damned day.
The T/A in Sayre, Oklahoma didn't look too crowded as I approached so I stopped in to have my scheduled maintenance done. I received the message from the shop yesterday but I didn't feel like stopping yesterday. Today seemed like a better option. With all of the hot weather and mountain driving, I have noticed that my truck has been burning a little oil lately. Hopefully the new fluids and filters and such will help at least a little.
I spotted the marquee for Wal Mart in Sallisaw, Oklahoma after a few more hours on the road so I ducked off for some food and supplies. I was glad to see that they had an actual truck parking area. I was disappointed to see that nobody in the store knew Tom Joad. Some neighbors they turned out to be, eh?
Back out to the road then... I made it to North Little Rock before today's eleven hours expired. Another freaking 685 miles down, another freaking 390 miles to go. I definitely won't be able to get anywhere close to Bessemer within my remaining hours. Looks like the ole Godfather gets to play the 'wait for midnight' game tomorrow, as directed by your brilliant federal government. I get to drive all morning, sit all afternoon and evening, and then drive overnight. Seems to me it would make more sense just to drive the last few hours in the afternoon and be done with it. Idiots.
Just a whole lot of I-40 to report this time around. I resisted the temptation to angle down out of Amarillo and stayed on the interstate instead, on account of my hours being in short supply. I'm pretty sure that I would have had a quick ride down to Wichita Falls but US-82 appeared to have a whole lot of towns along the way from Texas to Alabama. I need to cover as many miles as possible for each hour on the road during this trip. So yeah, I-40 all damned day.
The T/A in Sayre, Oklahoma didn't look too crowded as I approached so I stopped in to have my scheduled maintenance done. I received the message from the shop yesterday but I didn't feel like stopping yesterday. Today seemed like a better option. With all of the hot weather and mountain driving, I have noticed that my truck has been burning a little oil lately. Hopefully the new fluids and filters and such will help at least a little.
I spotted the marquee for Wal Mart in Sallisaw, Oklahoma after a few more hours on the road so I ducked off for some food and supplies. I was glad to see that they had an actual truck parking area. I was disappointed to see that nobody in the store knew Tom Joad. Some neighbors they turned out to be, eh?
Back out to the road then... I made it to North Little Rock before today's eleven hours expired. Another freaking 685 miles down, another freaking 390 miles to go. I definitely won't be able to get anywhere close to Bessemer within my remaining hours. Looks like the ole Godfather gets to play the 'wait for midnight' game tomorrow, as directed by your brilliant federal government. I get to drive all morning, sit all afternoon and evening, and then drive overnight. Seems to me it would make more sense just to drive the last few hours in the afternoon and be done with it. Idiots.
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