8/7/09

Another afternoon with no trailer? Well, I couldn't pass on that opportunity twice in a row. A little time at a crappy shopping mall and a dinner at a crappy Applebee's seemed to do the trick. Not exactly a vacation on the Riviera, but anything to break up the routine would be good at this point. I think I'm starting to get a little burned out. Trying to hang in there for a few more weeks before taking some time off though.

I got up right at 4am and drove across the street to the Con-way terminal. In a pleasant surprise, my loaded trailer was ready and waiting for me. It seems like I've been stuck waiting until the last minute for Con-way loads lately. Getting an early start is a good way to loosen up the timeline. In a less pleasant surprise, the load was 45,700 pounds - easily the heaviest Con-way load that I've ever pulled. That'll force a fella to drive with a little extra attention and patience.

I had to be in Normal, Illinois by 10:30am Central, so it seemed that I should have plenty of time to drop down on I-69 and then run US-24 across Indiana. I wasn't sure how many towns I might encounter, but surely this would be a better ride than dealing with that I-80 fustercluck in the northwestern part of the state and then dropping down on I-55. There weren't that many towns along US-24, the speed limit was largely 55-60mph, and the traffic was light. Beauty. I even got far enough ahead of schedule for a half hour power nap once I got into Illinois before finishing off the trip.

I pulled into the little Con-way yard and the fella directed me to my dock door. Of course, I got the one door at the whole place that would be a mild pain in the ass. The lot on the south side of the building was more narrow than the lot on the north side. I was going to the south side then, obviously, but that wasn't much of an issue. The nature of the narrow lot, combined with the fuel pump that blocked my angle of approach, caused me to take a few extra minutes backing in extra carefully. I got 'er done though, 'cause that's what truck drivers do.

There were no empties on the lot, so I had to wait for one of our trailers to get unloaded. The forklift dude was working quickly at the time though. I sent in my empty call once it looked like he was almost done and I instantly was given a new assignment. Beauty.

The next order of business was to take my empty to a customer in Gibson City and drop it off, then bobtail to our yard in Pocahontas for a relay arriving tomorrow morning. IL-9 was closed and the detour added about twenty miles to my route on the way to Gibson City, but otherwise the afternoon's work was a nice and easy affair. I dropped the empty and then headed down toward Decatur, stopping in Forsyth for the aforementioned break from the routine. Continuing down onto I-70 and into Pocahontas, I never encountered more than a hint of traffic and all was right with the world.

My Tigers are giving me heartburn at the moment but they're hanging on. All these bullshit work schedules lately have been giving me heartburn as well, but I'm hanging on. Tomorrow's relay is set for 7:30am Central though, so hopefully we can continue the trend back toward normalcy. I think my 70-hour blues should be in remission for at least a few days as well. The load that I'll be receiving is going to Temperance, Michigan for Sunday morning. That's only 400-something miles so I should be able to bank a few more extra hours from those that I used last week. (To this day, I have no idea what the eight day thing is all about.) A few more busy days would put me right back in the 'waiting for midnight' role, but I don't anticipate much work on a Sunday in Southeastern Michigan.

Going to the ninth inning and then going to bed, I think...