3/28/10

I don't know why that statue of Sam Houston bugs me so much.  It does though.  There's a gigantic city named after the guy.  That's where the statue should be.

One of the many CTL drivers who spent the weekend at the truck stop in Robinson knocked on my door this afternoon and told me that the weekend loads had all been sitting on the yard since Friday, in case I felt like getting an early start today.  I decided to stay put until tonight though.  One reason was that I would be going through a few towns, along a route that I had never traveled, and I thought that the overnight traffic would be easier to manage.  Another reason was that I'll be owed some layover pay from this weekend and I find that it's best to keep things simple for the operations people.  Sometimes, if the down time gets interrupted but is still adequate to qualify for layover, they get a little confused. By seeing to it that my truck didn't move for 48 hours, hopefully I will have streamlined the process of getting paid.

After topping off the tanks and grabbing my loaded trailer from the distribution center, it was time for some more country driving.  My route included a brief stretch on I-45.  Otherwise it was mostly two-lane highways.  In a few spots I was glad that I chose to drive through the night.  Situations where I wasn't clear on which lane to take and things like that.  It's always a little easier to manage that stuff when there's nobody else on the road.

As I took off from Waco, I received the information for my next planned load.  I'm glad they had something lined up because otherwise I was going to request a day at home once I got to Liberty.  I wasn't about to entertain the chance of another run back to Waco.  As it turns out though, I'll be picking up in Houston tomorrow afternoon and then heading to the Chicago area.  I'm pretty sure that Chicago will be far enough away for me to escape Waco's sphere of influence, at least for a few days.  I won't be shocked to find the next run from the Midwest taking me back to Laredo or something.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it though.  For now, this week is shaping up far better than last week. 

Time to get a few hours of sleep.  Nighty night.