Back at my home operating center now after another 600+ mile day. I can't say that I'm complaining about the mileage, though, since that's where I really make money. I started out in Gary, IN this morning and found about half an inch of snow on the truck. I was too tired to even find the trailer I needed last night, but I found it in about two minutes of looking this morning. I've no idea how I kept missing it last night, aside from the fact I was rather exceptionally tired. It was a relay and I had no idea what to expect, and thus was rather unpleasantly surprised to see 43,800 pounds on the bill of lading. So instead of being able to start heading south immediately, I had to make a brief detour to a Pilot one exit east on I-80. At least it was legal the first time; I didn't want to have to deal with the trailer tandems in the cold!
Once I hit the road, things went remarkably well. I still loathe Illinois' 55 mile-per-hour truck speed limit, but I was able to maintain 55 through the entire state, aside from a few clusters of traffic scattered every 20 miles or so. I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that I-57 is a very, very boring stretch of highway. Once I picked up I-24, things were at least slightly less boring on the road, though it was getting dark, so I couldn't see much of anything. Even once I got off the Interstate, traffic was flowing smoothly, though I did have one close call; I saw a corner coming up and started to brake early for it, which caused my truck to start skidding for a moment. I'm just glad I caught on before getting into the curve!
The unload was estimated at 3.5 hours on my work assignment. In reality, I got there at around 9:00 and left around 10:45, which was a rather nice and much-needed time savings. Basically, this left me two hours with which to work. Since I have an open pick up window (that is, I can pick it up anytime after it was ready at noon Tuesday), I figured that I'd just pick it up tomorrow and head out from the operating center here. So, using the entire remaining time I had, I just made it to the entrance here. In the process of making it over here, I realized just how much that extra-heavy load was helping keep me on the pavement; I started fishtailing just trying to pull onto the Interstate! It was definitely a rather hair-raising 100 miles, since I couldn't really afford to slow down. But, in the end, I made it here safely and that's what counts.
As for my plans coming up, my DOT break will allow me to start working again at 11:15 and start driving at 11:45. I plan on getting out of here soon as possible, since I want to pick this load up and go home! If all goes well, I will be able to make it to a truck stop near where I live tomorrow night, allowing me to actually go home and sleep there one night early. It's actually going to be a shorter day tomorrow than I had today; I only need to drive around 460 miles to make it home. I'm hoping to get there by 10PM, though I'm certainly not going to complain if I somehow manage to make it earlier. Then I'll be taking a nice, long weekend off, doing my taxes, and hitting the road again on the 20th. It'll be nice to go home since I haven't been there since Christmas.
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