10/27/09

A day with 465 miles on the odometer is pretty typical out here. Such a day in which the last 20 of those 465 miles comprised 90% of the work load... well, that's a little odd.

After getting unloaded this morning, I pulled around the corner and parked to await my next assignment. It didn't take long until the satellite unit chirped at me with the sort of information that I had anticipated. Back to the same shipper in Waco for another load. This one had some decent miles on it though and it got me out of Texas, so we'll have to assume that I'm free of that regional business for now.

My plan summary said that the load picked up in Waco tonight at midnight and had two drops in Arkansas tomorrow. Given yesterday's experience, I was fairly confident that I could make my pickup this afternoon and then get to the first delivery point for a full break tonight. If I actually had to pick it up tonight and then drive until morning, tomorrow's 14 hour clock would be shot by the time I made my second drop. I rolled into Waco around noon and sat parked on the street waiting to get into the shipper's driveway for quite some time. The security guard later told me that I had been behind a drayage container from China and also a local truck delivering 14 different purchase orders. Each of those came with a bunch of red tape so I got to sit and wait.

After finally getting in and making my drop/hook, I hit the road and made it past the Dallas area before any rush hour traffic had kicked up. It's not often that I have anything positive to say about Satan's Driveway (and I'm not entirely sure that this qualifies as something positive), but I'm glad I wasn't on that side of the road...



I don't remember exactly where this picture was taken. Somewhere between Waco and Dallas. That line was a solid seven or eight miles long and those people were parked. As you can see, my side was unimpeded. Beauty.

After a nap and a shower on the eastern edge of Texas, I got back on the road to finish tonight's trip into Hot Springs, Arkansas. I took I-30 over to Exit 78 and hopped on AR-7 northbound. There are certain things that you don't like to see when you're a truck driver. On a night when a little bit of rain is starting to fall and you're pulling a 40,000 pound payload, the word "scenic" on a highway sign is generally not good news. I'm sure that it's a lovely drive and all, but I didn't see any of that beautiful shit. I saw steep hills, windshield glare from oncoming high beams, and slippery curves that seemed to pop out of the darkness without warning. I once took US-62 across the top of Arkansas through Eureka Springs (a mistake that will never be repeated). Tonight's drive was child's play compared to that trip a few years back, but those last twenty miles into Hot Springs were definitely the hardest part of this trip.

I got parked in front of the makeshift loading dock at my consignee and then walked across the street to grab some dinner. I could see the lights for some kind of restaurant from where I was parked. The place was a nice little pizzeria and lounge that closed at 9pm and it was 8:45pm when I got there. Given my history in the restaurant business, I know that only a supreme douchebag would walk into a restaurant 15 minutes before closing time. (I'm sure that I'm talking about a few of you readers out there. The restaurant workers are most certainly saying it about you so you might as well know.) I do have plenty of my own douchebaggish tendencies but this is not one of them, so I moved along. There was a SubWay a few yards away though, open until 10pm, so obviously I was far from disappointed.

Once these guys pull the first bit of freight off in the morning, I'll have to head across to Benton and get rid of the rest. Then I'm not sure if I'll be under the control of Joplin or West Memphis. Either way I'll have plenty of available hours. Let's hope for plenty of available freight.