How many gears should it take to cross a four-lane highway with a median? Today, the answer was five gears. After getting unloaded and sending in my empty call this morning, I pulled out into the parking lot of the store to which I had delivered. I closed the doors on my trailer and found that I was #1 on the board. After a few minutes I decided to head over and grab a bite to eat at the Pilot. If I didn't find a parking space, I could always drive back across the street and park in the store's lot again. As my red light turned green, allowing me to cross the street toward the Pilot, I spotted one parking space and saw two trucks turning into the truck stop's entrance. They would have to go around through the fuel island in order to get to the small parking area. I was going straight in through the 'out' door, so to speak. If I hauled ass, I could beat them to the prize. I was like Big Daddy Don Garlits or something (at fifteen miles per hour, but you know... details). I win baby! Then, immediately after I backed into my parking space, three trucks left the truck stop and there were plenty of parking spaces for everyone. And those other two trucks were both getting fuel, not parking. Whatever man. I won.
After an hour or two I had a new assignment and it was time to go back to work. My commitment was being put to the test this time around. After yesterday's drive from Lakeland to Cocoa, I was almost tempted to forsake my abstinence from cash tolls. And what did I get today? Of course. A deadhead from Cocoa to Lakeland. I stuck to my guns though and retraced the toll-free route back to Lakeland - FL-520 to FL-50 to I-4. For some reason it didn't seem quite as tedious today. Empty as opposed to loaded maybe? I don't know. Probably. Whatever the reason, the drive was only an hour and forty-five minutes this time around and the traffic seemed to move more smoothly.
I checked in at the shipper and once again found myself compelled to ignore a customer's 'no idling' policy. I would have done whatever I was told if anybody complained to me directly, but with my truck's temperature readout at 105ยบ I had no desire to commune with nature while sitting at the loading dock. Screw that. Easy enough to pretend that I never saw the sign. Nobody said anything so all's well that ends well.
I have another heavy payload in the wagon; 45,000 pounds of sugar this time around. I could have used a light one, given the amount of idling that I've been doing and the resulting shitty fuel mileage, but what are you gonna do? We take whatever freight comes our way. This load is heading up to the Garden State for a Thursday morning delivery. I had been expecting a Wednesday delivery when the load was assigned, so I was pleasantly surprised when the dispatch came through. With a 1,072 mile run and three days to finish it, I'll be able to get back on a more reasonable pace for a few days here. Anything beyond seven or eight hours a day pretty much sucks as far as I'm concerned. Today found me getting through Jacksonville and into Georgia before calling it quits. I didn't encounter any heavy traffic in Orlando at 2:15pm. That wasn't a huge surprise, since I-4 usually moves pretty well unless it's raining. I also didn't encounter any heavy traffic in Jacksonville at 4:30pm. That actually was a huge surprise. Lots of I-95 from here on out, so let's hope it's a trend.
A little over 800 miles left for the next two days - bueno.
After an hour or two I had a new assignment and it was time to go back to work. My commitment was being put to the test this time around. After yesterday's drive from Lakeland to Cocoa, I was almost tempted to forsake my abstinence from cash tolls. And what did I get today? Of course. A deadhead from Cocoa to Lakeland. I stuck to my guns though and retraced the toll-free route back to Lakeland - FL-520 to FL-50 to I-4. For some reason it didn't seem quite as tedious today. Empty as opposed to loaded maybe? I don't know. Probably. Whatever the reason, the drive was only an hour and forty-five minutes this time around and the traffic seemed to move more smoothly.
I checked in at the shipper and once again found myself compelled to ignore a customer's 'no idling' policy. I would have done whatever I was told if anybody complained to me directly, but with my truck's temperature readout at 105ยบ I had no desire to commune with nature while sitting at the loading dock. Screw that. Easy enough to pretend that I never saw the sign. Nobody said anything so all's well that ends well.
I have another heavy payload in the wagon; 45,000 pounds of sugar this time around. I could have used a light one, given the amount of idling that I've been doing and the resulting shitty fuel mileage, but what are you gonna do? We take whatever freight comes our way. This load is heading up to the Garden State for a Thursday morning delivery. I had been expecting a Wednesday delivery when the load was assigned, so I was pleasantly surprised when the dispatch came through. With a 1,072 mile run and three days to finish it, I'll be able to get back on a more reasonable pace for a few days here. Anything beyond seven or eight hours a day pretty much sucks as far as I'm concerned. Today found me getting through Jacksonville and into Georgia before calling it quits. I didn't encounter any heavy traffic in Orlando at 2:15pm. That wasn't a huge surprise, since I-4 usually moves pretty well unless it's raining. I also didn't encounter any heavy traffic in Jacksonville at 4:30pm. That actually was a huge surprise. Lots of I-95 from here on out, so let's hope it's a trend.
A little over 800 miles left for the next two days - bueno.
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