Green Bay, WI

3 p.m.: I'm just getting ready to head out of Indianapolis, but I need to stop for fuel on the way out. Thankfully, it's only seven hours to where I deliver, though I'm still worried about going through Chicago. I'm fairly sure I'll miss rush-hour, but I don't think I'll miss it by much.

4 p.m.: my current ETA for Chicago is about 6:30 p.m.. So far, traffic's been pretty heavy, even down here. I shudder to think of what'll be like in a big city. The weather isn't helping me very much either; high winds are making it very difficult to drive. Like yesterday, the sun is also just over my left mirror, making it hard to see. It looks like I have my next work assignment, too. Seeing as I just got two equipment disposition messages, I'll almost certainly be picking up an empty trailer from the drop yard and taking it to the Green Bay operating center. Of course, I still don't know what I'm doing after that; I'll probably just pick a relay up after I do that training tomorrow.

5:45 p.m.: I'm about 10 miles from Interstate 90. Earlier, I was debating whether or not to stop somewhere to get dinner, but ultimately I decided against it. The biggest advantage to stopping would have been to allow Chicago rush-hour to clear up, since I'm sure traffic will still be a nightmare when I get there. Judging from the traffic on I-65 South now, it looks like getting into this city won't be a problem; it's getting out of the city again that I need to worry about.

6:30 p.m.: I avoided some of the mess in Chicago by going around I-89/I-94, as opposed taking I-90 straight through. As a bit of comfort, this time I'm not the only truck on the interstate; last time I was in Chicago I couldn't the another semi truck anywhere. If it stays this smooth once I get out of the city, I'll actually be well ahead of schedule.

6:36 p.m.: As expected, on my way out of town, traffic is a bitch. However, this has given me the opportunity to look at Chicago's gorgeous skyline. It really is quite the amazing view. If my hands weren't full with trying to drive, I'd be trying to take pictures.

7:30 p.m.: I just realized on my GPS is taking such an unusual route. I had set it to avoid toll roads while I was back in Florida, since Schneider won't pay for the Florida Turnpike, but I forgot to reenable toll roads before I came up here. As a result, instead of ending up on I-94, I'm currently going up US 41. It's really nothing more than a minor inconvenience, but it still annoys that I forgot to do something so simple.

7:45 p.m.: I'm in Wisconsin now, and only a little over an hour from where I'm delivering. It seems I've done nothing but make time so far today, but I'm afraid that now that I've said something, my luck's going to run out. Just as I started to cross the state line, it started to rain. It's currently 44°, so there's no risk of freezing yet, but I have to strongly emphasize yet. Although the low temperature tonight in Green Bay is supposed to be 33°, they're still calling for snow flurries; I hope they're wrong.

9:13 p.m.: I made it and I didn't get lost for once. I have to go around to an auxiliary lot, though at least they gave me a map and good directions. As expected, my new work assignment is to just pick an empty up from the distribution center and take it to the operating center.

9:29 p.m.: I can't believe I just did what I did. After taking a good long look at what the trailer does when I back it up, I realized at the thing is really not just angles, it's more of an arc. Looking at it as an arc, I seem to have a much, much easier time visualizing where it's going to go, and where I need to be to get to go where it needs to go. Backing my trailer in that here, I put it right next to another trailer in one try, so close that I couldn't even fit between the trailers. The only thing that I had to fix was that spacing, and that was easy to do. Seems like I've finally gotten something figured out, and the training tomorrow should finish solving my problems.

11:05 p.m.: I'm now just about convinced that "support shift" doesn't actually support anybody, but instead exists solely to make driving miserable anytime first shift isn't on duty. I received a message telling me to pick up an empty trailer, so I picked up an empty. I sent in my message telling them which empty I had and got a message back telling me to pick up a different trailer. Please note that I didn't get a message telling me what a specific trailer to pick up at any point until after I already picked up the trailer I have now. Somehow, the trailer I have is unavailable, even though the customer confirmed to me that they weren't using it and I would be free to take it as an empty. I've sent another message telling them this, and I'm stuck sitting here until they figure out what they want me to do. So far, it's been 15 minutes and they haven't replied.

11:20 p.m.: finally, I received a reply, though certainly a less than polite one. The message basically said I should've waited to see if it was going to get assigned to me or not. If I had to get a specific trailer, they should've sent me a message telling which trailer I needed to pick up in the first place. In any event, they finally decided I can leave with the trailer I picked up an hour ago, so now I'm going to head to Green Bay. I would like to get there before 1:30 a.m., but because support shift doesn't have a clue, apparently that was too much to ask.

12:04 a.m.: I'm about an hour and a half from Green Bay, assuming the 65 mph speed limit holds up. Though I only drove 335 miles yesterday, I'm not too unhappy about it, considering I've driven over 600 the last two days. Once I get to Green Bay, I'll drop this trailer, then park my tractor in the bobtail parking. Hopefully there will be people idling there trucks since I'd like to get a full night of sleep.

1:30 a.m.: I made a Green Bay. Unfortunately, as before, I had no idea where I'm supposed to go here. There are no signs anywhere on property indicating where empty trailers are supposed to go.

2:30 a.m.: I've dropped the empty, parked the tractor, and am finally ready to get a full night's sleep. The truck next to mine is sitting idle, but I'm really too tired for that to bother me right now. Hopefully I don't have to be up early for the training; I haven't gotten any messages telling me when I need to get up.