9/2/09

I have to confess something to you. As I was rolling across Wyoming this afternoon, I cheered out loud... for the White Sox. I feel so dirty. September is September though. Scoreboard watching is part of the deal. Half a game is half a game, after all.

Apparently beer is a little more popular in Utah than I had realized. I know that there's a holiday coming up and so forth, but that distributor was hopping this morning. By the time I woke, quite a few trucks had piled up on the driveway and the street. Unaware that half of them were planning to cut ahead of me, I waited until it was almost 7am and then checked in with the receiving fella. I crossed paths with one of my CTL colleagues who happened to be parked right behind me on the crowded driveway. A handful of reefers and other trucks scooted in through the gate once it opened, either too blind to see that there were trucks waiting when they arrived or too rude to care. I made it through with the first wave, so good enough.

The unloading process didn't take too long once it got started. Of course, it didn't get started until I had been at the dock for quite some time. I was already planned on a new load though. No worries. From Salt Lake City I had to head back into Wyoming for my next pickup. Getting to drag an empty trailer out of the valley was a nice little bonus, after having gone in with a heavily loaded one.

The shipper was some kind of chemical mining operation out in BFE. The process of checking in and then checking in again and then backing into the dock took longer than the actual loading. With my 40,000 pound payload locked down and ready to roll, it was off to Ohio. 1,627 dispatched miles, a few days of driving, and we'll head for home this weekend... err... wait a minute. Okay then. 1,627 miles, we'll deliver it at 1am on Tuesday, and then we'll head for home. That's a pretty slow dispatch, to say the least. The consignee's receiving hours are 1am-1pm, so anything after 1pm Friday is a no-go. I couldn't make it by Friday with my available hours. Then, on a holiday weekend... Tuesday it is.

I guess I could be all bummed about the schedule and such, but this time around I think it will work to my advantage. I'll be able to take my time heading back across the country and I should be passing through the hometowns of a couple of friends that I haven't seen in a while. I'm not sure what their schedules will look like, but I usually don't have quite so much free time on a run. Further to that, I will have plenty of time to shut down early on Saturday and kick back at one of the Corleone family's Midwestern estates. There's a televised event that I would like to see at 3:30pm, if you know what I mean (and I think you do). I also think I'll have to get a paid deadhead home once I make my delivery, so I'll be there in time to renew my license. All in all, not so bad.

Tigers win! Beauty.