5/19/10

It's generally not a good thing to feel tired early in the afternoon.  Sometimes though, a little unusual sleepiness can come in handy.  This evening is one of those times, although I'll probably be wide awake after an hour or two.  Pretty standard routine for me, especially with the bastard in the next truck running his engine in a 'no idling' zone.

The morning's drive across I-80 to my final stop was easy and uneventful.  A little bit of traffic in the construction zones leaving Illinois and a shit-ton of traffic leading into the construction zone in Joliet, but I was taking Exit 132 so I wasn't delayed more than a few minutes.  After making my drop/hook, I found myself at #1 on the board.  This is generally a good thing, in and of itself.  Next in line means that an assignment should be forthcoming.  Should be... should be... is not.  After sitting parked on the consignee's driveway for an hour, partially blocking the road, I decided that I had better go and find somewhere more suitable to wait for my next assignment.  And the pain in the ass begins...

The nearest truck stops were both Pilots.  There's one along I-80 that is an absolute shithole.  Then there's one along I-55 that is even worse.  For many of my fellow drivers, it probably seems redundant to refer to a Pilot truck stop as a shithole, but those two are worse than most.  I try to avoid each of them at all costs.  So then what's left?  The service plazas along the toll roads back in the Chicago area or the T/A further out to the west on I-80.  That T/A would be the best option but it was twenty miles away, in addition to being on the other side of that construction clusterfuck.  Hmm...

Next we start playing the fun little game known as Guess Which Way To The Next Shipper. 

North?  Maybe.  There's a Con-way yard in Aurora that I've visited once before.  And another Con-way yard in Des Plaines where I've picked up plenty of loads.  Plus I've grabbed tires in Belvidere or De Kalb (both, maybe?) on a few occasions.  Logistics place in Rockford.  I guess north is a pretty good possibility.

South?  Maybe.  There's another Con-way yard down in Salem.  Been there a few times.  Some of those grain outfits in the middle of the state send stuff to Laredo as well.

East?  Maybe.  Lots of shippers around Chicago.  Haven't picked up in that area lately though.  That Michael's DC in New Lenox is to the east.  We're into the slower retail season, so the dedicated guys probably have all that freight covered.  That place is really close though.  The bosses always say they're trying to control empty miles and whatnot.

West?  Maybe.  Can't think of any shippers out that way off the top of my head though.  And the traffic jam... guess we won't be heading westward.

I seemed to recall that, on a recent trip to the warehouse in New Lenox, I had pulled into a neighboring parking lot and awaited an assignment.  A vacant warehouse would be a big improvement over the driveway where I was parked today and New Lenox wasn't too far away, so I decided to head in that direction.  As I took the exit for US-30, wouldn't you know it?  New assignment.  It just couldn't have been sent ten minutes sooner, could it?

My next pickup was in fact going to be at the Con-way yard in Aurora.  So I was going the wrong way.  Of course.  I pressed the button to have the computer voice chick read the directions to me.  The Con-way yard was off US-30 and I had just turned onto US-30, so I would just keep going back to the west and all would be fine.  Some of you trucking gurus out there already know what happens next in this little story, don't you?  There's a low bridge on US-30 in Joliet so I had to re-route on the fly.  The sign in front of me said that I could hang a right for US-6 eastbound.  I didn't want to go eastward but I didn't exactly have a lot of options at the time.  So I hung a right.

After a block or two, US-6 broke off to the east and I continued straight on IL-171.  Okay then.  At least I was on a numbered route and I knew that I was heading northward.  I got caught at a red light, grabbed my atlas, and tried to get my bearings.  The next obvious move would be to hang a left on IL-7 and cross the river.  Then I could stay with IL-7 when it turned southward and catch back up with US-30.  Or... I could keep going westward on some other road and take my chances.  I saw a day cab truck with a dump trailer continuing straight through the intersection where US-7 broke left.  His trailer may not have been as high as mine, but I was pretty sure that his axles were heavier since I had an empty trailer.  Screw it then.  I'll follow the local guy and take my chances.  That route worked out fine.  I caught back up with US-30, got through the construction in Plainfield, and continued on my way to Aurora.

As I rolled along US-30 with about ten miles to go, I received an odd satellite message.  Nothing new there, I suppose, but this one did have me shaking my head a little.  "Joseph go on into the shipper and drop your trailer so they can work on getting it preloaded for you."  Umm... no shit.  Obviously I was on my way to the shipper at the time.  What did they think I was doing?  Cruising along US-30 because I enjoy the scenery?  Weird.  I'm pretty sure that we're always required to go to the Con-way facilities and drop our empty trailers but maybe I'm wrong.  Either way, I got checked in a short time later and today's whopping $11.40 was in the books.  Surprisingly enough, my dispatch from Joliet to Aurora was for 30 miles and I only drove 37.  After going the wrong way before getting the dispatch, doubling back, and having to detour around Joliet, 7 miles out of route didn't seem too bad.

The good side of this assignment is that I don't have to take the load into Massachusetts tomorrow evening.  I'll be passing it off to another driver on the eastern edge of Ohio.  The bad side is that I have to start driving at 4am.  So, as noted earlier, it's a good thing that I didn't sleep much last night.  Hopefully I can nod off for a while here tonight as a result.  We'll see.