10/20/09

In one of the more uncanny coincidences to arise in recent memory here at Tales from the Road, we were given the opportunity for an immediate compare-and-contrast with respect to yesterday's 'not all miles are created equally' hypothesis. As I wrapped up my evening a little while ago, I took a look at today's trip odometer and jotted down the miles in my logbook. 495 exactly, for the second day in a row.

After the unloading process (and corresponding nap) took more than two hours this morning, my split break was complete and I was in good shape for today in terms of available hours. I was #1 on the board but it still took a few hours for my next assignment to come along. When it did though, it was a pretty decent one - a quick deadhead over to the Columbus suburbs and then a delivery tomorrow in the Atlanta suburbs.

The first few miles leaving De Graff were on two-lane roads, but next I caught up with US-33 and had an easy ride all the way to the I-270 loop. Then the shipper in Groveport, right off I-270, had me loaded quickly and on my way. The loaded portion of the trip is entirely on the interstates and the timing turned out to be nearly perfect. The afternoon rush had largely died down by the time I got to Cincinnati, then I was able to cruise through Lexington and Knoxville tonight before my hours ran out. In point of fact, the parking situation was one more aspect of fortunate timing on this trip. The truck stop in Niota, Tennessee is far more crowded than I expected it to be. I got a spot all the way in the back, as did the four or five trucks who came in after I did. Since that time, every truck that has come in has been forced to spin around and go back out. I'm sure that a few of them probably have parked on the driveway and made life difficult for everyone else, but generally speaking this place has no vacancy. Fifteen minutes later and I would have been screwed.

With only ~185 miles left for the back end of this trip to Forest Park, Georgia, I should be in decent shape to get past Atlanta before the afternoon gets too ridiculous. Then I'm set to make a drop/hook and hopefully catch another assignment fairly quickly. Parking and traffic and other assorted nonsense make the Atlanta area one of those places that I prefer not to hang around any longer than necessary.

Back to the hypothesis now; Today's 495 miles took 8 hours of driving, as opposed to yesterday's 10.25 hours. So one of two outlooks can be embraced. Either yesterday I had two hours disappear into the ether or today I got a two hour discount on my work. In either scenario, I stand by my statement that not all miles are created equally. They do (for the most part) all count toward my paychecks though. Thus far, the week stands at 1,146 miles (but none of the extra pay that had become fairly common lately). With half of Wednesday, all of Thursday, and then the entire weekend remaining, we should be looking at another solid week.