11/18/08

As was the case yesterday, the tone for today was set early. This time it was a good tone. I awoke at some point this morning and thought to myself, "Please let me sleep for one more hour." When I checked the clock, I had an hour until my alarm was set to go off. Beauty.

The twenty-five miles to the shipper were nice and easy. My directions were easy to follow and the shipper was easy to access. The paperwork was ready for me and my trailer was set to go. I backed my empty into a space in one motion and centered it perfectly. Since I'll be heading into some hilly terrain, I checked the weight on the bills. 10,000 pounds. Groovy. And we were off and running.

I got back to the Dallas area after the morning rush had died down, so the traffic wasn't backed up at all. Out through East Texas I just set the cruise control and enjoyed the ride. Arkansas was a breeze. There was traffic backed up in the Memphis area... westbound. My side was rolling right along. It was just that kind of day.

I got all the way to Hurricane Mills tonight, setting me up for an easy schedule the rest of the way. If a friend of mine in Virginia is available tomorrow, I'll most likely knock out nine hours of driving and join her for dinner. If not, I may drive a little less tomorrow and split the trip up more. I make my first drop in Manassas at 5:30am Friday so I'm planning to get up there on Thursday night. It's almost doable in one long shift from here so I can stop whenever I feel like it tomorrow afternoon.

After the drop in Manassas, I'll be heading toward the Beltway during rush hour. That should be pretty fun. My second drop is in Alexandria. The northeast pay will total close to twenty bucks for this load and the extra stop pays another thirty-five. Still no word on how much layover and detention pay are coming, but I'll be empty on Friday morning with lots of hours available for the weekend. It's starting to come together...